Residential Service Charge Demands
Landlord and Tenant
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 provides that a landlord must issue residential service charge demands to tenants within 18 months of incurring the costs. If the demand has been issued later than this the landlord will not be able to recover the costs at all. The only exception is when the landlord has, during the 18 months, notified the tenant that the cost had been incurred and that the tenant will be required to contribute to them by payment of a service charge.
In the case of London Borough of Brent v Shulem B Association Ltd [2011] the landlord had not issued the tenants with service charge demands within 18 months of the work being completed. Although the landlord had provided an estimate of the costs they had not specified the actual costs that would be due from the tenants. The High Court therefore ruled that the tenant had not been adequately notified of the charges and were not liable to pay.
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