Calland v CDS Housing Association Limited

The applicant applied for a determination of the payability and reasonableness of his service charges. Unlike most LVT cases, the applicant occupied his flat under an assured tenancy agreement (Housing Act 1988), rather than a long lease.
At the beginning of each year, the Housing Association would calculate an amount for the service charges which it would require. The applicant would pay 1/52 each week, with a balancing process at the end of the year. However, the tenancy agreement specified that he would pay 1/24 of the costs.
The LVT made a number of very minor adjustments to the service charges, calculated to be mere pence per week.
Analysis
The significance of this case is not anything in the facts or the decision, but in the fact that a Housing Association has been brought before the LVT to justify service charges in an assured tenancy. Whilst secure tenants of Local Authorities are not allowed to challenge any service charges in the LVT, there is no such prohibition on tenants of Housing Associations. There are far fewer challenges of this nature than one feels (albeit instinctively) there ought to be.
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