A leading property barrister has cast doubt on the ability of the leasehold valuation tribunal to handle service charge disputes.
Kim Lewison QC told around 200 figures from the property industry on 14 January that the tribunal “simply is not equipped to deal with contested applications on the scale of a major service charge dispute”. He added that where disputes turn on difficult technical evidence, the tribunal’s case management “is woefully inadequate”.
The 46-year-old barrister, who heads specialist property law set, Falcon Chambers, and edits Woodfall on Landlord and Tenant, was addressing a seminar hosted by City law firm, Nicholson Graham & Jones. He described “administrative chaos” at the tribunal, which he said is caused by understaffing, an “enormous” backlog of cases and a mindset that is “still geared to a one-day case in which the tribunal simply inspects the property, listens to a few submissions and then makes up its mind”.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, which is responsible for the leasehold valuation tribunal, said: “We are aware of concerns about the time taken for cases to be determined. New panel members have been recruited and further recruitment is planned. We have commissioned research into the tribunal’s systems. But it’s too early to draw firm conclusions about the ability of the system as a whole, and we would stress that the whole procedure was introduced to protect leaseholders from oppressive landlords.”
PLS News 19/01/99
