Cases - Re SCMLLA (Freehold) Ltd
Record details
- Name
- Re SCMLLA (Freehold) Ltd
- Date
- [2014]
- Citation
- UKUT 0058 (LC)
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Service charges – Costs – Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20C, section 20C(1), section 27A, section 20C(3) – scope of an order pursuant to section 20C(1) of the 1985 Act
- Summary
-
The appellant landlord brought proceedings against 10 lessees under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 ('the Act') for a determination in relation to service charges payable over a number of years.
During the course of the proceedings, 3 section 20C applications were made by various lessees. Two of the applications did not refer to other 'affected persons' as specified in paragraph 2 of the standard form. The last application referred to 'all tenants', but was never served on the landlord. The LVT subsequently made an order pursuant to section 20C of the Act that the legal costs of the appellant were relevant costs to be taken into account in determining the amount of any service charge payable by all the lessees paying service charges on these blocks.
The appellant appealed on the grounds that the LVT’s jurisdiction was limited to making a protective order in favour of only those lessees who were specified in the application pursuant to section 20C(1) of the Act.
It was held that the scope of the order which may be made under section 20C of the Act was limited by the terms of the application seeking that order. The LVT (now the First-tier Tribunal) had a wide jurisdiction to make an order it considered just and equitable in the circumstances, however, it did not have jurisdiction to make an order in favour of any person who had failed to make an application of their own under section 20C of the Act or been specified in an application made by someone else.
Appeal allowed.