Daniel Gatty reports on some recent good news for landlords
Landlords of blocks of flats let on long leases can sleep more peaceably in their beds as a result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Daejan Investments Ltd v Benson [2013] UKSC 14, [2013] All ER (D) 48 (Mar).
As is well-known, before a landlord of residential premises can recover as service charge the costs of “qualifying works” or costs under a “qualifying long term agreement”, the landlord must go through a process of consulting with the (long) leaseholders. It is a fairly complicated process that statute prescribes and often mistakes are made. The consequences of not complying with the consultation requirements can be severe—a restriction on the amount recoverable from each tenant to £250 in the case of qualifying works and £100 per year in the case of qualifying long term agreements. A landlord who has not fully complied with the requirements can, however, apply to the leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) for retrospective dispensation from compliance with them. It was the power to grant such dispensation that was the subject of
