UK service charge tribunal statistics
Across 4,244 First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions from 2019–2026, 39.4% of the 18,031 individually challenged items were reduced or disallowed; where the tribunal made a reduction, the median cut was 46.6% (n=2,264 reductions with amounts stated). (n=18,031, as of 2 October 2026)
This is the statistics hub for ServiceCharges.AI's corpus of published First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) service charge decisions. Every figure below is computed directly from the tribunal's published decisions, carries its sample size, and is regenerated nightly as new decisions are published.
About these figures: Outcomes reflect disputes that reached the First-tier Tribunal, not portfolio-wide quality. Small samples are noisy; every figure links to the underlying decisions.
Outcomes by cost head
- Major works — 16.8% reduced or disallowed (n=2,804, as of 2 October 2026)
- Reserve fund contributions — 40.1% reduced or disallowed (n=593, as of 2 October 2026)
- Buildings insurance — 40.7% reduced or disallowed (n=1,621, as of 2 October 2026)
- Management fees — 56.4% reduced or disallowed (n=1,588, as of 2 October 2026)
- Lifts — 13.6% reduced or disallowed (n=434, as of 2 October 2026)
- Utilities — 38.7% reduced or disallowed (n=826, as of 2 October 2026)
- Legal & professional costs — 53% reduced or disallowed (n=1,033, as of 2 October 2026)
- Administration charges — 66.6% reduced or disallowed (n=646, as of 2 October 2026)
- Cleaning — 43.5% reduced or disallowed (n=848, as of 2 October 2026)
- Gardening & grounds — 41.1% reduced or disallowed (n=457, as of 2 October 2026)
- Staffing & concierge — 33.1% reduced or disallowed (n=272, as of 2 October 2026)
- Repairs & maintenance — 39% reduced or disallowed (n=2,268, as of 2 October 2026)
Orders & outcomes
- How often do leaseholders win at the FTT?
- Section 20C order outcomes
- Section 20ZA dispensation outcomes
- Year-by-year trends
By region
- Midlands — 224 decisions (n=1,121, as of 2 October 2026)
- Southern — 812 decisions (n=3,034, as of 2 October 2026)
- London — 2,382 decisions (n=10,151, as of 2 October 2026)
- Northern — 447 decisions (n=1,712, as of 2 October 2026)
- Eastern — 379 decisions (n=2,013, as of 2 October 2026)
Named records
Methodology
These statistics are computed from the published decisions of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in service charge cases (case types LSC, LIS and LDC). Each decision is parsed into a structured record — the sums challenged, the sums allowed, the outcome per cost head, and the orders made — and the aggregates on this page are recomputed nightly in plain arithmetic from those records. No figure on this page is estimated, modelled or hand-typed; each carries its sample size. Current corpus: 4,244 decisions covering 18,031 individually disputed items, last updated 2 October 2026.
Read this before quoting: Outcomes reflect disputes that reached the First-tier Tribunal, not portfolio-wide quality. Small samples are noisy; every figure links to the underlying decisions.