LON/00AY/LSC/2024/0622 — service charge decision
In LON/00AY/LSC/2024/0622, decided 11 November 2025, the First-tier Tribunal considered 13 disputed service charge items at Southwyck House, London SW9 8TT and reached a mixed result: 6 items were reduced or disallowed. Full decision on GOV.UK below.
Property: Southwyck House, London SW9 8TT
Decision date: 11 November 2025
Full decision: Read on GOV.UK
What was challenged and what the tribunal decided
| Item | Demanded | Allowed | Outcome | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities (2019-20) | £5,631.62 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)), Duplication of charges |
| Repairs & maintenance (2018-19 to 2022-23) | £12,627.47 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Cleaning (2018-19 to 2023-24) | £5,236.32 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Other charges (2018-19 to 2020-21) | £102,359.20 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Other charges (2018-19 to 2023-24) | £4,267.55 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Buildings insurance (2018-19 to 2023-24) | £17,242.02 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Gardening & grounds (2018-19 to 2023-24) | £5,551.57 | £0 | conceded | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Buildings insurance (2022-23 and 2023-24) | — | — | Reduced | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Management fees (2018-19 to 2023-24) | — | — | Reduced | Fee excessive for service delivered, Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
| Other charges (2018-19 to 2023-24) | — | £0 | Disallowed entirely | Fee excessive for service delivered, Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)), Landlord could not evidence the cost |
| Gardening & grounds (2018-19 to 2023-24) | — | — | Reduced | Apportionment error, Not payable under the lease |
| Repairs & maintenance (2018-19 to 2023-24) | — | £0 | Disallowed entirely | Not payable under the lease |
| Other charges (2018-19 to 2023-24) | — | — | Reduced | Costs unreasonably incurred (s19(1)(a)) |
Section 20C order: conditional.
Key passages (verbatim)
“Duplicate 2019/2020 Energy Invoices £5,631.62”
“Communal Ventilation Maintenance for 2018/19-2022/23 £12,627.47”
“Communal Window Cleaning for 2018/19-2023/24 £5,236.32”
“Door Entry System for 2018/19-2020/21 £102,359.20”
“Fire Ventilation System for 2018/19-2023/24 £4,267.55”
“Block Repairs and Maintenance Insurance Items £17,242.02”
“The Respondent's service charges are extraordinarily high and would be so for a luxury block in prime central London with equivalent lift and concierge services, let alone a council block in Brixton.”
“This and many of the aforementioned concessions speak of a landlord which is careless and inattentive, making egregious errors which cost them nothing while hitting their lessees hard, both financially and in terms of a lack of service. Such errors should not be happening at all, let alone requiring lessees to commence legal action to bring them to light.”
“It is astonishing and appalling that the Respondent could get this measurement wrong to that degree – the measurement used, on the Respondent's own calculations, was 152% more than the correct measurement. The Respondent has not sought to explain how they made such a large error.”
“the evidence appears to show that the Respondent passes on the costs which are calculated in the way described by Mr Thompson without anyone on the Respondent's staff querying whether the answer reached by the calculation is in any way reasonable or proportionate. For example, as the Applicants pointed out, in 2020/21 the Respondent levied a 63.01% overhead in respect of Grounds Maintenance. It is clearly neither reasonable nor proportionate for the indirect staff and other costs to amount to nearly two-thirds of providing the service in question but no-one at the Respondent appears to have noticed.”
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.