How do service charge challenges fare at the Midlands tribunal?
Across 224 First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions heard in the Midlands region (2019–2026), 44.7% of 1,121 challenged items were reduced or disallowed; the median reduction, where made, was 35.9%. (n=1,121, as of 15 August 2026)
Cases are assigned to a region by the First-tier Tribunal venue code in the case reference. These figures are recomputed nightly from the published decisions.
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 in Midlands
| Cost head | Items (n) | Reduced or disallowed | Median reduction when reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildings insurance | 80 | 40% | 48% |
| Management fees | 74 | 50% | 13.3% |
| Major works | 124 | 25.8% | 14.3% |
| Repairs & maintenance | 132 | 58.3% | 42.9% |
| Utilities | 85 | 29.4% | 42.7% |
| Other charges | 342 | 45.9% | 38.4% |
| Cleaning | 70 | 28.6% | 20% |
| Staffing & concierge | 31 | 83.9% | 88.2% |
| Legal & professional costs | 59 | 61% | 42.4% |
| Administration charges | 55 | 58.2% | 30.2% |
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 15 August 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.