Service charge corner
When a district judge awakes in their bed and remembers they have a string of service charge disputes in their small claims list that day, they have a strong inclination to resume slumber. Magistrates’ courts’ hacks will react similarly while reflecting on the day’s contested ‘due care’ against the AA backed client who has photographs and plans. The avoidance device in the county court is a transfer to the first-tier tribunal (FTT) under s 176A of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 which can work wonders where service charge reasonableness and payability have to determined.
Alas, the transfer order may be woolly. Is it the whole shooting match or just insurance premiums and what about the counterclaim? As was stated in Cain v London Borough of Islington [2015] UKUT 117, it is inappropriate for the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) to be too pedantic when interpreting the transfer order, especially where it is couched in
