PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of service charge administration in Uganda and to establish how it has affected the maintenance of civil servant’s housing facilities in selected government estates in Kampala City, Uganda.

METHODS FOLLOWED / APPROACH: The analysis of this study covered 55 properties housing civil servants in selected estates. Causal research design and linear multiple regression as the underlying statistical tests were employed in this study. This method was used to find the relationship between service charge administration and the maintenance of selected government estates in Uganda. The study further employed both systematic and purposive random sampling procedures in data collection. A combination of both interviews and questionnaires were us to engage with the selected respondents and determine the impact of service charge administration on the overall serviceability of the civil servant’s buildings.

FINDINGS: The results of this research based on the evidence gathered indicate that, being one of the few sources of income for the administrators of civil servants’ housing, if adequately structured and administered, service charges can go a long way in sustaining not only the building fabric and serviceability, but also ensuring comfort of the users.

VALUE OF WORK: This research exposes the fundamental solution to the persistent challenges facing the management of civil servants’ housing in Uganda, leading to a systematic dilapidation of most of them even before their planned lifespan.