How often do tribunals reduce utilities charges?
Across 826 individually challenged utilities items in First-tier Tribunal service charge decisions from 2019–2026, 38.7% were reduced or disallowed; where the tribunal made a reduction, the median was 49.8% (n=133 reductions with amounts stated). (n=826, as of 15 August 2026)
The figures on this page cover every individually challenged utilities 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 utilities items
| Outcome | Items | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced | 208 | 25.2% |
| Disallowed entirely | 112 | 13.6% |
| Allowed in full | 476 | 57.6% |
| Withdrawn | 13 | 1.6% |
Most common grounds when the tribunal cut the charge
- Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) — 144 items
- No Section 21B summary of rights — 10 items
- Other grounds — 55 items
- Not payable under the lease — 46 items
- Demand formally invalid — 14 items
- Landlord could not evidence the cost — 88 items
- Apportionment error — 46 items
- Section 20B 18-month time limit — 20 items
By tribunal region
| Region | Items (n) | Reduced or disallowed | Median reduction when reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 418 | 42.8% | 50% |
| Eastern | 114 | 29.8% | 29% |
| Southern | 129 | 43.4% | 39.1% |
| Midlands | 85 | 29.4% | 42.7% |
| Northern | 80 | 32.5% | 48.9% |
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.