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
Tuesday, December 15th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News
Commercial landlords and property agents of multi-let buildings or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) are often facing problems when recharging tenants for energy. An article in FM World says that many buildings apportion utility costs on a floor area or fixed percentage basis but tenants are now expecting to be charged for actual usage, which can lead to potential disputes.
Read the full article here
Sunday, November 29th, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Brandon Lewis of Department for Communities and Local Government has announced new measures that will clamp down on criminal landlords who trap and cram vulnerable tenants in unsafe, overcrowded homes, . Proposals will help councils tackle the problem head-on and bring an end to ruthless landlords who exploit their tenants and charge them extortionate rents to live in cramped conditions.
Read the full article here
Friday, November 20th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News
Mike Suggett of Browne Jacobson has pointed out that where a tenant of a commercial property seeks to negotiate into a lease the ability to terminate the lease early, he will usually wish to secure the break right conditional only on serving notice. However, this can be unacceptable to some landlords who may insist on more onerous conditions . Some of these conditions can be complied with relatively easily, but some can be so onerous that they will allow a landlord to effectively frustrate a tenant’s right to break the lease early.
Read the full article here
Thursday, November 12th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Karl Anders of Walker Morris explains that the Court of Appeal has confirmed that deadlines for complying with conditions for relief from forfeiture are not necessarily set in stone.
Read the full article here
Thursday, September 10th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News
An article from Shoosmiths points out that many leases provide for a landlord to create a reserve fund of service charge contributions to cover recurring costs such as maintenance, cleaning and redecoration.
These funds are distinct from a sinking fund which is designed for costly rainy day items such as replacing lifts or air-conditioning plant.
A reserve fund helps to balance the financial burden on the tenant, as it avoids fluctuations to their service charge contributions, and gives greater certainty to the landlord that funds will be available in advance to cover the day to day cost of providing services.
The recent case of Caribax Ltd v Hinde House Management Company Ltd reminded us that residential landlords are obliged to hold reserve funds on trust for their tenants and must give effect to the service charge terms of the lease.
But what is the position for a commercial landlord?
Read the full article here
Thursday, August 13th, 2015 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News
The Keeble Hawson Commercial Property team has reported that a tenant had exercised a break clause, ending a lease early and sought a refund of parts of payments it had made in advance in respect of rent, service charge, car parking and insurance charges, which related to a period after the break date. However, the Court of Appeal ruled that it was not appropriate to imply a term into a lease that entitled the tenant to a refund in respect of payments that it had paid in advance in accordance with the terms of the lease.
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
Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
London based law firm Leigh Day has announced that it is bringing a group claim against Foxtons on behalf of landlords, in a legal case which could see the London estate agent facing a multi-million pound payout.
Read the full article here
Monday, July 20th, 2015 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In an article from Keeble Hawson it was reported that, a recent case in the Upper Tribunal of the Lands Chamber has been found in favour of a residential tenant who challenged her water charges. The estate water supply was measured by meter which could not be read remotely. The landlord therefore charged individual water charges from a central meter and recovered a proportion from each tenant through the service charge. The tenant argued this was wrong based on the high service charges raised.
Read the full article here
