Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Websters’ senior partner, David Goddard writes 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.
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
An Authorised Guarantee Agreement (AGA) is a guarantee provided by an outgoing tenant to the landlord that the new assignee tenant will perform its covenants under the lease. In a recent case Christopher Burke of Pearson Hinchliffe shows how an AGA proved invaluable to a landlord when his lease assignee went into Administration.
Read the full article here
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
Tenants often agree to pay through the service charge for items required by statutory provision in force when the lease is signed but who is responsible if those statutory provisions change, requiring expensive upgrading rather than simple maintenance of equipment. This point is discussed by Stephen Lemmon of Martineau in relation to expensive air conditioning upgrades required by new European Regulations
Read the full article here
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
The City of London Law Society Land Law committee has drafted service charge provisions to be used in leases, which reflect many elements of the RICS Code of Practice on Service Charges in Commercial Property. The introductory notes warn that, despite the intended fairness of the clauses, “it may be appropriate in the case of a short term to limit the tenant’s obligations, whether through the exclusion of particular heads of expenditure or by agreeing an overall cap on the tenant’s contribution.”
Read the Office Building clause here
Read the retail specimen clause here
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Service Charge
With poorly managed service charges remaining a frequent cause of dispute between owners and occupiers, the new RICS Service Charge Code of Practice has been developed with leading property bodies to improve standards and promote consistency, fairness, transparency and best practice in the management and administration of service charges in commercial property. Providing guidance and setting out clear best practice principles to solicitors, their clients and managers of service charges, the new Code is an essential tool for an industry looking to improve the quality of service to its customers.
Read the full code here
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Russell May of Boyes Turner notes that, before embarking on legal action against a difficult tenant, landlords should know whether they will be able to recover the costs involved from that tenant. Read the full article here.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In an article from Mace Jones, it is pointed out that it only takes one joint tenant under a periodic tenancy to end that tenancy by a notice to quit; and that some form of catch-all wording (which specifically refers to the terms of the tenancy) may save a notice to determine that would otherwise be invalid. Read the full article here.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
All demands for the payment of service charges relating to residential premises must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations. Davenport Lyons points out that tenant who receives a demand that either fails to contain a summary or contains a summary but not in the prescribed form is entitled to withhold payment. Read full article here.
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
The government hopes that the new plan to allow landlords of social housing to charge up to 80% of market rate, will fund 150,000 affordable homes by 2015. However, there is concern that, if the services charges on these properties are not be included in the definition of affordable housing, the real cost to residents could be closer to market rent; thus endangering the success of the project.
Read the full article in Inside Housing here
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out detailed requirements and preconditions, which must be observed by landlords when they seek to recover the cost of works to a property from residential tenants by way of service charge. In an article by Paris Smith LLP, it is noted that in the case of Daejan Investments Limited v Benson, the statutory consultation requirements were not observed in their entirety by the landlord and the Court of Appeal concluded that the consequences for the landlord being unable to recover the service charge fully was significant and wasn’t a relevant factor when deciding whether or not to waive the consultation requirements. In consequence, the liability of the five residential tenants was restricted to £250 each (substantially less than they would have been liable for had the landlord complied with provisions of the 1985 legislation).
Read the full article here
