How do service charge challenges fare at the Southern tribunal?
Across 812 First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions heard in the Southern region (2019–2026), 42.7% of 3,034 challenged items were reduced or disallowed; the median reduction, where made, was 46.8%. (n=3,034, 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 Southern
| Cost head | Items (n) | Reduced or disallowed | Median reduction when reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve fund contributions | 109 | 40.4% | 49% |
| Buildings insurance | 248 | 47.6% | 60.6% |
| Management fees | 277 | 62.8% | 33.3% |
| Major works | 517 | 18.8% | 32.2% |
| Repairs & maintenance | 365 | 41.6% | 46.8% |
| Utilities | 129 | 43.4% | 39.1% |
| Lifts | 80 | 6.2% | 55.5% |
| Other charges | 823 | 45.4% | 53% |
| Cleaning | 101 | 57.4% | 50.5% |
| Gardening & grounds | 85 | 47.1% | 56.7% |
| Legal & professional costs | 154 | 55.8% | 40.1% |
| Administration charges | 114 | 66.7% | 59.2% |
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.