Cases - Union Pension Trustees Ltd & Anor v Slavin
Record details
- Name
- Union Pension Trustees Ltd & Anor v Slavin
- Date
- [2015]
- Citation
- UKUT 0103 (LC)
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Service charges – Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 27A – repair covenants – invoices – VAT
- Summary
-
At first instance, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) disallowed a sum said to have been incurred by the appellant trustees in connection with major works on the basis that it was not supported by a proper invoice. The FTT further disallowed a contribution towards legal costs incurred by the appellants in connection with earlier proceedings.
The issues on appeal were whether:
- the FTT had been entitled to exclude the recovery of any part of the costs of major works on the basis that no invoice had been produced in evidence; and
- whether the lease entitled the appellants to recover legal costs incurred in the tribunal proceedings.
In allowing the appeal in part, taken as a whole there was ample evidence supporting the appellants’ contention that expenditure had been incurred in relation to the major works. The FTT was simply wrong to suggest otherwise. The absence of an invoice from the contractor was relevant in considering that question, but its significance had to be assessed in the context of the other evidence.
The FTT was correct to conclude that the language of the lease did not permit recovery of the costs of tribunal proceedings as part of the service charge. The recent decisions in Conway v Jam Factory [2014] 1 EGLR 111 and Assethold Ltd v Watts [2014] UKUT 0537, illustrated the proposition that a reference to legal expenses was not a precondition of recovery. They did not provide carte blanche for the recovery of such expenses wholly in reliance on general 'any other costs' clause.