Amos v 13/14 Gloucester Square Management Ltd

The applicant challenged her liability to pay service charges from 2001 to 2003, contending that she had not been given adequate notice of the service charges, as required by s.20B. The LVT agreed in respect of one of the three years in dispute. As it pointed out, s.20B imposes a strict requirement on landlords and even cases of genuine error will not save the landlord, as there is no discretion in determining such matters. The LVT was prepared to assume that the costs were “incurred” on the last day of the service charge year, but the respondent was unable to produce any written evidence showing that the charges had been notified to the applicant.
Analysis
As the LVT said, the requirement to notify leaseholders of their service charge liabilities is a strict one and this appears to be another case of a landlord who was unable to provide sufficient proof of compliance.