OM Property Management has welcomed an Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decision in its favour, which clarifies the 18-month rule contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
The tribunal allowed OM’s appeal against a rent assessment decision made in respect of a
In determining the amount of rent payable by Stephanie Sherwin, the tenant of a flat in Florence Road, Coventry, for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08, the leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) made deductions from the amounts that would otherwise have been payable to reflect the application of section 20B of the 1985 Act, which limits service charges through a time limit on the making of demands.
However,
Mr George Bartlett QC has allowed
He said: “The section would apply so as to limit the tenant’s liability to pay if any of the relevant costs taken into account in determining the amount of the service charge to which the demand related were incurred more than 18 months before the demand.
“Since the costs taken into account in determining each of the advance payments were prospective costs, they clearly had not been incurred more than 18 months before each of the demands for advance payments. Thus, section 20B(1) does not apply so as to limit the tenant’s liability in respect of the advance payments.”
This means that the time limit to serve demands within 18 months applies only to balancing service charges and any balancing service charge is unaffected by the time limits if demanded within 18 months of being incurred.
Holding & Management (Solitaire) Ltd v Sherwin Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (Mr George Bartlett QC) 10 December 2010.
Justin Bates (instructed by the legal department of Peverel Property Management) appeared for the appellant; the respondent did not appear and was not represented.