How often do tribunals reduce reserve fund charges?
Across 468 individually challenged reserve fund items in First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions from 2019–2026, 39.7% were reduced or disallowed; where the tribunal made a reduction, the median was 49% (n=49 reductions with amounts stated). (n=468, as of 4 July 2026)
The figures on this page cover every individually challenged reserve fund 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 reserve fund items
| Outcome | Items | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced | 78 | 16.7% |
| Disallowed entirely | 108 | 23.1% |
| Allowed in full | 267 | 57.1% |
| Withdrawn | 4 | 0.9% |
Most common grounds when the tribunal cut the charge
- Other grounds — 35 items
- Works not necessary — 3 items
- Apportionment error — 5 items
- Not payable under the lease — 65 items
- Demand formally invalid — 6 items
- Section 20B 18-month time limit — 7 items
- Landlord could not evidence the cost — 55 items
- Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) — 85 items
By tribunal region
| Region | Items (n) | Reduced or disallowed | Median reduction when reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern | 48 | 35.4% | 48.1% |
| Southern | 86 | 38.4% | 49% |
| Northern | 48 | 29.2% | 30.3% |
| London | 263 | 42.6% | 50.5% |
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.