LON/00AY/LDC/2021/0152 — service charge decision
In LON/00AY/LDC/2021/0152, decided 28 October 2022, the First-tier Tribunal considered 2 disputed service charge items at County Hall Apartments, 5 Chicheley Street, London, SE1 7PY and found largely for the landlord: 0 items were reduced or disallowed. Full decision on GOV.UK below.
Property: County Hall Apartments, 5 Chicheley Street, London, SE1 7PY
Decision date: 28 October 2022
Full decision: Read on GOV.UK
Managing agent named in the decision: County Hall Management Company Limited (and N&S and Courtyard entities).
What was challenged and what the tribunal decided
| Item | Demanded | Allowed | Outcome | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major works (2020-2022) | £1,046,586.45 | £1,046,586.45 | Allowed in full | — |
| Other charges (2020-2022) | £73,430.51 | £73,430.51 | Allowed in full | — |
Section 20C order: refused. Section 20ZA dispensation: granted.
Key passages (verbatim)
“works to replace water tanks in the building … total cost of £1,046,586.45 [657]”
“works to replace the fire escapes … total cost of £73,430.51 [659]. None of the objecting leaseholders have made any submissions regarding the replacement of the fire escape.”
“The Applicants complete disregard of their statutory consultation obligations regarding these works is obvious, and we have considerably sympathy with the criticisms levelled against them in this respect by the objecting leaseholders.”
“We conclude that the board made a deliberate decision not to follow the consultation requirements.”
“If the leaseholders were not self-managing, the Applicants' complete disregard of the statutory consultation requirements would, in our view have justified making the grant of dispensation conditional upon the Applicants contributing towards the legal costs incurred by the objecting leaseholders in responding to the application.”
“The evidence, however, suggests that the contrary was true, at least as far as these works are concerned.”
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.