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I am taking my Landlord to Court for Unlawful Service Charges. My landlord admitted Liability regarding mot being Consulted within their stage one resolution. However their stage two refused to go back further than six years.
I moved into my property on the 04th December 1994. My tenancy stated that I only pay for Gardening, External window Cleaning and Lighting, In 2013 there was a Consultation of which I was not part of due to the letter being incorrectly addressed. This added a further 13 services. I have noticed from a neighbours document that the extra services were being charged tenants in 2004, way before the consultation.
In a SAR's request I obtained the following:
Years 2012-2014 were all incorrectly addressed, so I never received them.
Year 2015 was correctly addressed. However i never received the document.
Years 2016-2022 were refunded.
My questions:
a. As my landlord charged my Tenancy agreement without any consultation, could the law quoted bellow be used against me?
b. I could not have reasonably have known what I was being charged:
i. as service charges were incorporated into my rent.
ii. Until 2010 there was no breakdown of service charges.
iii. 2011-2014 - documents were incorrectly addressed.
iv 2015 was correctly addressed and did offer a breakdown od charges. However, I never received the document.
v. 2016-2021 was refunded.
I for the displacement of the limitations act as I could not have reasonable have known about any over charge
Landlords defence to my Claim
The Law We refer you to a leading case of Peter Cain v Islington London Borough Council (2015) UKUT 542 (LC) the tribunal was required to determine whether the leaseholder was time barred from being able to challenge the actual reasonableness of the service charges which he had discharged in respect of the periods 2001/2002 to 2006/2007. The First Tier Tribunal GF / LEGAL-P42-021650- GF / 01242215 Page 3 held that, given the leaseholder had not challenged the service charge payments over circa a ten-year period, the leaseholder should be regarded as having agreed or admitted the constitution of the service charge and that the application was barred by virtue of section 27A(4). On appeal the Upper Tribunal was adamant that the leaseholders lack of action was sufficient to amount to an admission that the sums which he had paid over several years were in fact due. Consequently, the tribunal had no jurisdiction to allow an application under section 27A. On this basis we reiterate that your claim to recover service charges paid for period since inception of your tenancy to period 2016, is unlikely to succeed. This decision was previously relayed to you by way of letter dated 25 January 2023 – Peer review Final response to your complaint Ref: CMP30030646 , whereby an offer of £100 compensation was made to you for the time taken to respond to your complaint.
I appreciate any assistance you maybe able to offer
Kind regards
Stevieb
I moved into my property on the 04th December 1994. My tenancy stated that I only pay for Gardening, External window Cleaning and Lighting, In 2013 there was a Consultation of which I was not part of due to the letter being incorrectly addressed. This added a further 13 services. I have noticed from a neighbours document that the extra services were being charged tenants in 2004, way before the consultation.
In a SAR's request I obtained the following:
- The Notices for years 1999/2000; 2000/ 2011 were provided within my Subject Access request. However, these were single page documents which offered no breakdown of what services were being charged. Therefore, I would have not have reasonably known what Service charges your client had added to our contract, (Tenancy Agreement.) Further to this, I have no recollection of ever receiving them at the time.
Years 2012-2014 were all incorrectly addressed, so I never received them.
Year 2015 was correctly addressed. However i never received the document.
Years 2016-2022 were refunded.
My questions:
a. As my landlord charged my Tenancy agreement without any consultation, could the law quoted bellow be used against me?
b. I could not have reasonably have known what I was being charged:
i. as service charges were incorporated into my rent.
ii. Until 2010 there was no breakdown of service charges.
iii. 2011-2014 - documents were incorrectly addressed.
iv 2015 was correctly addressed and did offer a breakdown od charges. However, I never received the document.
v. 2016-2021 was refunded.
I for the displacement of the limitations act as I could not have reasonable have known about any over charge
Landlords defence to my Claim
The Law We refer you to a leading case of Peter Cain v Islington London Borough Council (2015) UKUT 542 (LC) the tribunal was required to determine whether the leaseholder was time barred from being able to challenge the actual reasonableness of the service charges which he had discharged in respect of the periods 2001/2002 to 2006/2007. The First Tier Tribunal GF / LEGAL-P42-021650- GF / 01242215 Page 3 held that, given the leaseholder had not challenged the service charge payments over circa a ten-year period, the leaseholder should be regarded as having agreed or admitted the constitution of the service charge and that the application was barred by virtue of section 27A(4). On appeal the Upper Tribunal was adamant that the leaseholders lack of action was sufficient to amount to an admission that the sums which he had paid over several years were in fact due. Consequently, the tribunal had no jurisdiction to allow an application under section 27A. On this basis we reiterate that your claim to recover service charges paid for period since inception of your tenancy to period 2016, is unlikely to succeed. This decision was previously relayed to you by way of letter dated 25 January 2023 – Peer review Final response to your complaint Ref: CMP30030646 , whereby an offer of £100 compensation was made to you for the time taken to respond to your complaint.
I appreciate any assistance you maybe able to offer
Kind regards
Stevieb
