I would just call it a maintenance fee or service charge. However, it maybe that there is no exact or standard US English term for the maintenance fee the student is describing. Most standard apartment rentals in the US do not have this arrangement. The owner, (or the property management company) pays the utilities and maintain the shared areas. That said, they do pay those costs using rent collected from tenants. Properties with nice grounds and special amenities are usually considerably more expensive for this reason. However, I have never seen separate surcharges to the rent to cover maintenance. It is usually "included". The only exception I can think of is if you rent from an owner that lives in a community with a Home Owners Association (HOA). In that case, the owner of the property is required to pay the HOA a monthly fee to cover such services. It is up to the owner how to present this to a renter. He could tell the renter the rent is 1,000 dollars per month, + HOA Fee of 200. However, I think it is most common for them to just include that cost in the general rent as 1200 and not complicate things. Since it is not common, it could just irritate the potential renter.

In the UK, the standard term in tenancy agreements and everyday conversation, in my experience, is "service charge". "Common charge" would be understood but seems unusual to me. Arthur, do you think that you may have heard "common charge" in the USA?

Common charges or common maintenance charges. I believe there are other terms but I can't think of them right now. I'll update if they come to mind or maybe someone else can weigh in. I think maybe different English-speaking countries have different terms.I'm British and have lived in America, and common charges will work in both cases.

Thank you all :) I totally widely understand it after reading your guy's discussion. >3<!!