Service Charge Dispute Resolved
The landlord had not demanded service charges for 2002 to 2006 until 2008 and then 2007 and 2008 until 2009, whilst collecting quarterly payments. They demanded almost £150,000. The landlord had also calculated the apportionment of costs by including the external roof garden and courtyard, whilst not doing so for the external balconies and terraces of the flats in the same development.
Kevan Carrick referred the court to these discrepancies and in particular the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Guidance note on Service Charges in Commercial Property. This requires landlords and their managing agents to operate a non-profit making service charge, be transparent in its operation and have good communication with all tenants.
The court decided that the apportionment be reduced to include all external areas let to individual tenants and that the courtyard has a 15% weighting. This reduced the claim and after adjustment for payments on account but not accounted for in the claim, reduced the tenant’s liability to about £50,000. Whilst the tenant was ordered to pay 40% of the landlord’s costs in the case, these were small in comparison to the annual saving over the duration of a 125-year lease.
In times of austerity all tenants are advised to check their service charge, in terms of apportionment of figures and allocation of costs. All landlords and their managing agents should take the RICS Guidance Note into account in their operations, where it is not over-ridden by the express terms of the lease.
Community Infrastructure Levy
Building a Strong Team Despite Tough Times
JK is delighted to announce the appointment of Jonathan Dent.
New Office for Renewable Energy Services
JK is delighted to announce the completion of a lease to RES at Maingate, Gateshead.
Sunderland: New River Wear Bridge
JK was delighted to learn after much hard work the success of Sunderland Council in receiving government approval for the new £80 million Weir Bridge.
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