Reminders for residential landlords

Download a free guide for landlords on how to stay within the law when charging tenants a service charge.

Two recent tribunal decisions provide cautionary reminders to landlords about residential service charge requirements.

Case 1 - Consultation with tenants

The first case highlights that a landlord or management company needs to carefully consider what information must be given to tenants, and how this is to be made available.

In this case, the management company failed to comply with the requisite consultation requirements because the place and hours specified in the notice for inspection of the estimates were not reasonable, and the estimates were not available for inspection, free of charge, at that place and during those hours.  The importance of genuinely offering tenants the chance to inspect details of any proposed works or contracts has been reinforced. 

Case 2 - Service charge demands
In the second case, the tribunal held that the service charge demanded from a tenant under a residential lease had not become due as the demand did not comply with section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Failure to comply could delay collection of the service charge as well as lead to disputes.

Free guide for landlords

Both cases underline the strict requirements of the residential landlord and tenant legislation.

To help landlords check that their practice complies, we have prepared a guide explaining:

• what a service charge is,
• when consultation is required,
• the penalties for failing to comply with consultation requirements and
• the time limits for making service charge demands.

This guide is available free to download by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.