How often do tribunals reduce cleaning charges?
Across 679 individually challenged cleaning items in First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions from 2019–2026, 41.5% were reduced or disallowed; where the tribunal made a reduction, the median was 50% (n=111 reductions with amounts stated). (n=679, as of 4 July 2026)
The figures on this page cover every individually challenged cleaning item in our corpus of published First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions, and are recomputed nightly.
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 for challenged cleaning items
| Outcome | Items | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced | 169 | 24.9% |
| Disallowed entirely | 113 | 16.6% |
| Allowed in full | 370 | 54.5% |
| Withdrawn | 12 | 1.8% |
Most common grounds when the tribunal cut the charge
- Other grounds — 13 items
- Works not necessary — 11 items
- Standard not reasonable (s19(1)(b)) — 13 items
- Poor standard of work — 43 items
- Apportionment error — 11 items
- Not payable under the lease — 37 items
- Landlord could not evidence the cost — 96 items
- Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) — 130 items
By tribunal region
| Region | Items (n) | Reduced or disallowed | Median reduction when reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midlands | 56 | 17.9% | 33.4% |
| Eastern | 89 | 38.2% | 43.2% |
| Southern | 92 | 59.8% | 50% |
| Northern | 50 | 30% | 72.8% |
| London | 392 | 42.9% | 50% |
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: 2,383 decisions covering 12,898 individually disputed items, last updated 4 July 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.