Guidance

Service charges, administration charges and other management matters in the property tribunal

Updated 1 May 2024

About this guide

This guidance helps you understand what happens when applying to the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber (Residential Property) about:

• service charges
• administration charges
• appointment of a manager
• right to manage
• breach of lease covenant
• variation of a lease
• recognition of a tenants’ association

For more information and links to application forms, see the guide about how to solve a residential property dispute.

For advice on how to present your case, or if you need to understand more about the law, you may wish to consult a solicitor or Citizen’s Advice.

Citizens Advice

A charity and network of local charities, offering free, confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person. They offer advice on housing issues, such as tenants’ rights and responsibilities.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

About the tribunal

The tribunal receives a high volume of applications and must manage them within a fixed budget. It must ensure that each application is dealt with fairly and as efficiently as possible. It also must ensure that each case uses an appropriate share of its resources whilst considering the need to allocate resources to other cases.

If there is anything about our procedures you do not understand, contact the regional tribunal office. The tribunal’s procedures are governed by statutory rules called the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013.

Tribunal decisions are published on GOV.UK, unless a party makes a written request that this should not be done.

The tribunal members

Tribunal members are appointed by the Lord Chancellor. There are 2 types of member:

1. The chairman, who will usually be a lawyer or surveyor, is responsible for the conduct of the case and writes the reasons for the tribunal’s decision
2. Other members who may be lawyers, surveyors, other professional people or lay people

When a tribunal is set up to consider the case, there will usually be 2 or 3 members including the chairman.

Case officers

Case officers are the administrative staff who manage the process from start to finish and deal with correspondence. When an application is received, it is the case officer who will register the case and deal with the paperwork and correspondence until the parties have received the final decision. The case officers can speak to parties about the procedures relating to the application but they cannot give legal advice or interpret the tribunal’s decision.

Apply to the tribunal

You must complete an application form in almost all cases. You can:

• find the appropriate form online
• contact your region’s tribunal office to ask for a form to be sent to you

Once an application is received at the tribunal office, it will be checked by a case officer for completeness and you will be sent an acknowledgement.

A copy will also be sent to:

• the other party (the respondent)
• any known person the tribunal considers is likely to be significantly affected by the application
• any other person the tribunal considers appropriate to receive a copy

If you name many respondents, the case officer might ask you either to provide sufficient copies along with stamped addressed envelopes, or to send the documents to respondent yourself on behalf of the tribunal.

The tribunal will assess the urgency and complexity of the case. In urgent cases, such as where the health, safety and welfare of people may be of concern, a hearing can be listed within days.

In relatively simple cases, the parties may request, or the tribunal may suggest, that the case can be dealt with by considering the written evidence and representations only, without the need for a hearing. This is referred to as a ‘paper determination’. However, any party who wishes also has the right to request a hearing.

Fees

Some applications include a fee. You will find information about the fee in the application form.

Where there is an application fee, the tribunal will not proceed further with the case until you pay. If the case has not been started and the fee is not paid within 14 days of being payable, the case will not be started. If a case has started, it will be deemed to be withdrawn 14 days after you are told that the fee remains unpaid.

If there is to be a hearing, a fee of £220 will become payable when you receive notice of the hearing date.

You may be able to get help with paying fees. You can apply online or by post with an application form. If you apply for help with fees online, you must include your help with fees reference number on the tribunal application form. If you apply for help with fees by post, you must include the application form with your tribunal application.

If you have paid a fee, you can ask the tribunal to order the respondent to reimburse you in whole or in part. The tribunal will make an order to that effect at the end of the case if they agree it is fair to do so.

Special requirements

The tribunal seeks to make itself as accessible as possible to all parties. If you have a particular requirement, such as a disability or other need, discuss this with the case officer when you make your application.

Communicating with the tribunal by email

If you email the tribunal, you should always:

• prepare a letter to the tribunal in Word format and attach it to the email (maximum of five pages - longer documents should be sent by post)
• send or copy the email to the regional office email address, as case officers are sometimes absent
• copy any email to the other parties, either by email or by post, and tell the tribunal that this has been done
• quote the reference number or case officer’s name

The tribunal will not accept emails that part of a chain or ‘conversation’ about the case, or bundles that are attached to emails.

Mediation

The tribunal may, with the agreement of all parties, refer cases to a mediation service if there are suitable facilities available. A trained mediator will work with you and the respondent to resolve the dispute by agreement.

Mediation can avoid many of the problems associated with a traditional adversarial hearing, including cost, delay, publicity, stress and an unforeseen outcome. Mediation does however require genuine commitment to compromise from all parties.

Case preparation

In cases where the issues are not clear, there may be a case management conference (CMC), which parties are encouraged to attend. The CMC is an opportunity to:

• compromise with the respondent and narrow the issues between you
• have your say about what instructions should be given in the case – these are sometimes called ‘directions’
• ask questions about the procedure you should follow

In cases where the issues are easily identified, the tribunal chairman will issue written procedural directions requesting certain actions from one or both parties before the hearing. The procedural directions document may include:

• what the issues are
• when the parties need to send each other copies of documents
• whether there is to be an inspection of the property
• an estimate of the length of the final hearing

If a party or another person is going to say something to the tribunal, he or she may be required to prepare a witness statement.

You must follow the directions as they ensure that all parties know exactly what documents are available and what the witnesses are going to say, so that no one is taken by surprise. The tribunal may well disregard new evidence produced at or close to the hearing.

A bundle of the documents and photographs to be considered at the hearing or paper determination must be prepared in all but the simplest cases. The directions will say how many copies of the bundle must be sent to the tribunal and the date by which they must be sent, so that the tribunal members can read the documents and see what the issues are before the inspection, hearing or determination.

The bundle must have a page index at the front and each subsequent page must be numbered in sequence so that, at the hearing, when a person refers to a document on a certain page, everyone will be able to turn to the document quickly.

The tribunal will expect the parties to agree the bundle. If not, each party will have to prepare its own bundle and submit it separately with the numbering A (for applicant) or R (for respondent) followed by a number for each page. For example, you would mark the first page with A1, the second page with A2 and so on.

The documents to include in the bundle will typically be:

• copies of the application
• any procedural directions
• statements of case
• any expert reports and witness statements
• copies of the lease
• any other relevant documents, for example invoices

Sections with dividers are helpful and most bundles should be in a lever arch file or ring binder. No single bundle of papers should be more than 350 pages so more complex cases will need more than one lever arch file or ring binder.

In some cases, the directions may require the parties to set out the issues in dispute in a certain format. The most common format is referred to as a Scott schedule. The purpose of a Scott schedule is to separate out the individual items in dispute and to give space for both parties to comment on those items. For example, it might say why the item is disputed, why it is or is not payable under the lease and how much would be a reasonable amount to pay.

Scott schedules work best when both parties have added their comments so that the tribunal can see the whole case in outline in one document. A well-prepared schedule will often help make the hearing quicker and easier.

Expert witnesses

In some cases, the evidence of an expert is needed either by a party or by the tribunal. If you intend to ask an expert to give evidence, you must get permission from the tribunal. The tribunal will then give directions about the service of any expert’s report on the respondent.

If you and the respondent instruct experts of the same type, the chairman is likely to order you to discuss the case before the hearing to try to agree as much as you can. You may then need to produce a statement setting out what you agree and do not agree, with reasons.

Inspections

The tribunal may inspect the property if you or the other party requests it, or if the tribunal considers it necessary. A visit is considered necessary in most service charge cases, though if the tribunal is dealing with several similar properties at the same time, it may only inspect a sample. A visit will only take place on a date and at an approximate time that you have been told about.

In some cases, the tribunal might be assisted by inspecting the inside of a property as well as the outside and any common parts. However, the inspection will not be a structural survey.

The tribunal will only inspect inside a property if the occupier has given their permission. You may be allowed to join the tribunal at the inspection but again only if the occupier has given permission.

An inspection will usually be on the day of the hearing. Either party can draw attention to any physical aspect of the property or its surroundings but will not be allowed to say anything further. For example, a damp patch on a wall can be pointed out but any suggestion as to why it appeared should not be given. ‘Representations’ (arguments and evidence) will either have been made in writing already or will be made at the hearing if one has been requested.

If the members of the tribunal are unable to gain access at the appointed time, they may decide to make another appointment or they may decide that they have sufficient information to make a decision.

The hearing and decision

If a hearing goes ahead, it will be held in person. In London, hearings are held at the London tribunal office. In other regions, the hearing can take place in a hearing room at the regional office but will often take place at a venue as near to the property as is practical.

You can speak for yourself or through a representative. This can be a legal professional, such as a solicitor, or it could be a friend or family member.

As the applicant, it is usually your responsibility to present your case first, but the tribunal chairman will provide guidance about the appropriate order of proceedings at the beginning of the hearing. Each party will be able to put relevant questions to the other party.

The members of the tribunal will try to put people at their ease and will also ask some questions. If anything is unclear during the hearing, you can ask the tribunal for clarification.

The tribunal’s decision will be made after the hearing and sent to you and the respondent in writing as soon as possible and usually within 6 weeks.

Costs

If a party does not comply with the procedural directions or otherwise behaves unreasonably in the proceedings, the tribunal may decide to stop the application going ahead.

The tribunal does not usually order the losing side to pay the court costs of the other party. However, they may order one party to pay costs if their failure to comply with directions, or their unreasonable actions or behaviour, has resulted in another party incurring costs.

You should check your lease for any liability to pay costs. Some leases allow a landlord to include costs incurred in connection with proceedings before a tribunal as part of a service charge.

Section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 gives the tribunal power, on application by a tenant, to order that such costs are not to be treated as relevant costs in determining the amount of any service charge. Following an application, the tribunal will either refuse the request or make an order it considers reasonable.

If circumstances change

If circumstances change or you change your mind about your application, you can apply:

• to vary or postpone your application
• to withdraw your application
• for a consent order

Apply to vary directions or postpone a hearing

You can ask the tribunal to vary the directions or to postpone a listed hearing. You must apply in writing to the tribunal with full reasons. You must send a copy of this to the other parties.

The tribunal is unlikely to postpone a hearing unless there are good reasons that have arisen since the hearing date was fixed. Even good reasons will require evidence to prove that a postponement is justified.

Withdraw an application

Most withdrawals are made by parties after a negotiated agreement. If you wish to withdraw all or part of your case, you must tell the tribunal and the respondent in writing. If the respondent has already consented in writing, this must be included with the your notice to the tribunal.

Your notice of withdrawal will not take effect until the tribunal consents to the withdrawal. The tribunal may make directions or impose conditions on the withdrawal it considers are appropriate.

Apply for a consent orders

If you come to an agreement with the respondent on the order you require, you can ask the tribunal to make a consent order. This would dispose of the proceedings and contain the other provisions which you have agreed. The tribunal may make a consent order if it considers it appropriate. The tribunal does not need to hold a hearing before making the order or to provide reasons for the order.

Appeal the tribunal’s decision

In most cases if you do not agree with the decision of the tribunal and want it to be changed, you can appeal to the tribunal for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal.

You must apply in writing within 28 working days of the date when the tribunal sent you its decision. You must include why you believe the decision was wrong. The tribunal will then decide whether permission should be granted for the appeal to proceed.

The tribunal will notify all parties of that decision in writing. If you are dissatisfied with that decision, you can re-apply for permission directly to the Upper Tribunal.

If the tribunal realises that a clerical mistake has been made it can issue a correction certificate.

The tribunal may also set aside its decision or reconsider the case if, for a reason beyond the tribunal’s control, there has been a serious procedural error. This may be, for example, if the documents provided by one party were not seen by the tribunal at a hearing. If you want to apply to set aside on this basis, you must apply within 28 days after the tribunal sent the decision.

When the case is considered closed

If the issue or issues in the case have been referred from the county court, the tribunal decision and the case will be transferred back to the court.

Following either a withdrawal or a determination of all applications (including any appeal), the tribunal will close its case file. This will be retained for a period of 12 months before being destroyed.

Guidance for other applications

Find guidance for applying to the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber (Residential Property) about:

• Rent (T540)
• Lease enfranchisement (T542)
• Housing Act (T543)
• Park homes (T544)
• Tenants associations (T545)
• Right to buy (T546)
• Agricultural land and drainage (T609)