A freehold company has been left with a legal bill of more than £10,000 after it turned off a leaseholder’s lift during a dispute over service charges.
Kensington resident and leaseholder Raymond Sehayak sought an interim injunction forcing freeholder Winchester Park Ltd to restore full lift service to the apartment building that he lived in after the company cut service to the floor that he lived on.
The request for an injunction was later dropped after full lift service was restored, and the judge in the case told Winchester Park to pay Sehayak’s £10,845.40 legal costs, noting that, had Sehayak not made the application, “he and his family would have found themselves using the stairs”.
Winchester Park challenged the costs order, but their case was rejected by the High Court today.
The court ruled that the County Court judge was entitled to award costs, and was correct to say that the lease didn’t allow the freeholder to withhold services if rend hadn’t been paid.
The dispute dates back to 2014 when the parties became embroiled in an County Court battle over service charges.
Sehayak lives in an apartment building on Palace Gate in London’s Kensington, just of High Street Kensington, overlooking Kensington Gardens. Flats in the building are valued at between £1 million and £6 million.
Winchester Park Ltd v Sehayak, QBD (Garnham J) 26 May 2016
