Cases - The Anchor Trust v Mr Tom Corbett and others
Record details
- Name
- The Anchor Trust v Mr Tom Corbett and others
- Date
- [2014]
- Citation
- UKUT 0510 (LC)
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Service charges – Reasonableness – implied term limiting sums chargeable to amounts reasonable for tenants to pay
- Summary
-
The appellant landlord appealed against the decision of the LVT refusing it permission to charge the respondent tenants the cost of updating the fire alarm system in the development through the service charge provisions in their lease.
The LVT found that the appellant had a contractual entitlement to recover the sum of £8.85 per month from each tenant and that sum was reasonable within the meaning of section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (‘the 1985 Act’). Pursuant to the its application of the Court of Appeal decision in Finchbourne v Rodrigues [1976] 3 All ER 581, the LVT ultimately found that the sums claimed failed to satisfy the overriding requirement at common law that service charges had to be fair and reasonable.
On appeal the appellant argued that the LVT’s application of Finchbourne was wrong. In essence, the ratio of that case was limited to its unique facts and did not warrant wider application. In the present case there was no need to imply such a term to give business efficacy to the agreement. The Lands Chamber agreed with the appellant. The implication of such a term in Finchbourne was necessary as the tenants did not have the protection of the 1985 Act. In the present case the tenants had the statutory protection coupled with the contractual restrictions placed on the appellant in levying service charges. Consequently, the aforementioned contractual and statutory provisions vitiated the need to imply a further term.