CHI/00HE/LSC/2023/0037 — service charge decision
In CHI/00HE/LSC/2023/0037, decided 19 October 2023, the First-tier Tribunal considered 6 disputed service charge items at Flat 9, Zodiac House, The Valley, Porthcurno, Cornwall and reached a mixed result: 6 items were reduced or disallowed. Full decision on GOV.UK below.
Property: Flat 9, Zodiac House, The Valley, Porthcurno, Cornwall
Decision date: 19 October 2023
Full decision: Read on GOV.UK
Managing agent named in the decision: Belmont Property Management.
What was challenged and what the tribunal decided
| Item | Demanded | Allowed | Outcome | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buildings insurance (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error |
| Management fees (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error |
| Utilities (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error, Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Cleaning (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error |
| Repairs & maintenance (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error |
| Gardening & grounds (2022-23) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error |
Section 20C order: refused.
Key passages (verbatim)
“The expenditure on Buildings Insurance, Directors and Officers Insurance ... should be shared between the thirteen lessees based on the floor area percentages.”
“Property Management Fees should be shared between the thirteen lessees based on the floor area percentages.”
“The expenditure on electricity and common parts cleaning should be subdivided between the Tower and House.”
“The cost of cleaning should be shared equally (or on any other basis the Respondent considers appropriate and equitable) between the lessees of the Tower.”
“The expenditure on building maintenance and Repairs has not been subdivided between the Tower and the House in the relevant service charge accounts. The Respondent will need to do this to enable it to allocate some of those costs exclusively to the lessees of the Tower.”
“Landscaping ... should be shared between the thirteen lessees based on the floor area percentages.”
“Belmont has not obtained copies of any of the other leases of flats within Zodiac House.”
“The Respondent on its own admission, has not exercised any discretion regarding any element of the service charge expenditure (except perhaps the division of the cost of the communal electricity and the maintenance of the external staircases). It has instead continued to rely on the use of a calculation which it is unable to fully explain, and which for all the reasons set out above, may no longer be appropriate or equitable and is not authorised by the Lease.”
This summary is assembled from the structured record of the published decision; amounts appear only where the tribunal stated them. Always rely on the full decision itself.