Tuesday, January 26th, 2016 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Websters has been specialising in the production and audit of service charge accounts for nearly forty years. When we started this work, service charge audits were frequently undertaken as part of the property owner’s general annual audit. This was not a satisfactory situation because specialist knowledge is needed for accurate service charge accounting assessment. Some of the advantages of an audit are:-
- Landlords and tenants can be assured of their transparent financial relationships
- Tenants can trust that the service charge is correct and fair at no added cost to the landlord
- There can be a significant reduction in investigations by tenants into service charges, saving time and money for landlords
- Specialist advice on current techniques for the internal accounts team will be available
We now act for a very large number of landlords, who recognise that independently audited accounts can remove a major cause of conflict with their tenants
Monday, July 27th, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Walker Morris reports that a recent Tribunal ruled that whilst the cost of repair work undertaken by a landlord was fully recoverable from leaseholders under section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a different approach must be taken when assessing whether the landlord can rely on this provision to recover the cost of improvement work.
Read the full article here
Saturday, June 27th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, News, Residential, Service Charge
In the case of Arnold v Britton & Ors [2015] UKSC 36, Gary Milner-Moore and Joanne Keillor of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP comment on the Supreme Court’s conclusion that, in interpreting a service charge provision in a number of long leases, arguments based on commercial common sense should not be used to undervalue the importance of the actual words used, and that the correct interpretation was one which applied the natural meaning of the term.
Read the full article here
Monday, May 18th, 2015 in Landlord, News, Residential, Service Charge
Brian Church for 24dash.com notes that social housing is changing. Instead of focusing exclusively on social housing tenants, many social landlords are branching out by developing flats and letting them subject to usual service charges. In line with this we are seeing a growing trend for social landlords to also bring in an element of service charge for their more traditional social tenants.
Read more here
Monday, May 18th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Websters senior partner David Goddard says that ‘when we started specialising in service charge audits they were frequently undertaken as part of the property owner’s general annual audit. This was not a satisfactory situation because specialist knowledge is needed for accurate service charge accounting assessment.
• Landlords and tenants have transparent financial relationships
• Tenants trust that the service charge is correct and fair at no added cost to the landlord
• A reduction in investigations by tenants into service charges, saving time and money for landlords
• Specialist advice on current techniques for the internal accounts team
• Almost all general practice accountants and auditors unfortunately do not have the specialist knowledge and experience to fully understand your needs
Since that time many large landlords in the UK have moved to providing independent audited accounts for their service charges thus removing one cause of landlord : tenant conflict’
Monday, April 20th, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Although you may regularly deal with some aspects of The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, it may still be helpful to look through this summary from RPC, which sets out the basic principles in relation to the recovery of residential service charges. Property managers whose duties include the collection of service charges need to be particularly mindful of the provisions of this Act.
Read the full article here
Monday, January 12th, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Joseph Preisner of Field Seymour Parkes Landlords need to consider carefully whether terrorism insurance is appropriate and the cost recoverable. In a recent case it was decided that the obligation on the landlord to insure against explosion may translate as a requirement to insure against terrorism and that the obligation on the tenant to cover the cost of insurance may also extend to terrorism insurance.
Read the full article here
Monday, August 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
Deloittes has questioned whether the modifications relating to environmental sustainability in the recent (3rd) edition of the Service Charge Code will help to drive change? Whilst there have not been any fundamental changes, some additional guidance has been provided specifically around green leases, Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), improving environmental performance and Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s). I would argue that the updates can only be regarded as a good thing for commercial property.
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Friday, July 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Phil Taylor has highlighted an interesting recent service charge question arising in the case of Daejan Properties Ltd v Griffin & Anor. If a property suffers a structural failure, due to lack of repair, can tenants claim that reduced service charges should only be paid on the assumption that the repairs had been carried out?
Read the full article here
Wednesday, June 25th, 2014 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
In his ‘Tip of the Week, David Wells of DAC Beachcroft reports that the recent case of Friends Life Management Services Limited and A&A Express Building Limited reinforces the point that a landlord either has to spend monies it receives by way of service charge within the service charge year a lease terminates or return it to the tenant.
Read the full article here
