How to challenge a service charge at the tribunal
If you think a service charge is unreasonable, you do not have to pay first and argue afterwards, and you do not need a solicitor. The route is an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This page explains what it can decide, what it cannot, and the two things people get wrong before they start.
What the tribunal can decide
Under section 27A(1) the tribunal determines whether a service charge is payable and, if it is: who has to pay it, who it is payable to, how much, when, and in what manner.
Section 27A(2) makes clear this applies whether or not the charge has already been paid. Section 27A(3) goes further and allows a determination in advance — if costs were incurred for particular services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or management, would a charge be payable and on what terms. That is the provision to use before a major works project starts rather than after the bill lands.
The underlying test is section 19: costs count only so far as they are reasonably incurred, and only where the works or services are of a reasonable standard. Both limbs must be met.
The two things people get wrong
First: paying is not admitting. Section 27A(4) blocks an application where the matter has already been agreed or admitted by the tenant, and this frightens people into withholding payment to protect their position. It should not. Section 27A(5) says in terms that a tenant is not to be taken to have agreed or admitted anything by reason only of having made a payment. You can pay under protest, protect your credit and your lease, and still bring the application.
Second: you cannot sign the right away. Section 27A(6) makes void any agreement by which a tenant purports to give up the right to apply, or to accept a particular method of determination. A clause in a lease or a settlement letter saying otherwise does not bind you.
What does genuinely block an application is a matter already determined by a court or by an arbitral tribunal under a post-dispute arbitration agreement.
Before you apply
Most disputes we see are about information rather than money, and they end when someone explains the figures. Exhaust that first, because the tribunal will expect you to have.
Request the section 21 written summary of the relevant costs.
Then use section 22 to inspect the invoices and receipts behind that summary and take copies. Inspection itself is free.
For insurance, use the Schedule to the 1985 Act — a written summary and inspection of the policy, within 21 days. See our guide to insurance commissions.
Check the section 20B 18-month rule: costs demanded more than 18 months after they were incurred may not be recoverable at all.
Check whether section 20 consultation was carried out. Without it, recovery is capped at £250 per leaseholder for qualifying works.
Costs — and the orders that protect you
The Property Chamber is a no-costs jurisdiction as a general rule: each side bears its own costs, and the tribunal can only order one party to pay another’s costs for unreasonable conduct in the proceedings. That is what makes it genuinely accessible.
The real risk is different, and it catches people out. Many leases allow the landlord to recover its own legal costs of the dispute back through the service charge — so you can win and still pay for the other side. Two provisions exist for exactly this:
Section 20C of the 1985 Act. Any tenant may apply for an order that all or part of the landlord’s costs of the proceedings are not to be treated as relevant costs when the service charge is calculated. The test is what the tribunal considers just and equitable in the circumstances.
Paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. In force since 6 April 2017, this does the equivalent job where the lease routes the landlord’s litigation costs to you as an administration charge rather than through the service charge. Same just-and-equitable test.
Apply for both, at the same time as the main application. Asking afterwards is harder.
Fees
There is an application fee and, if the case goes to a hearing, a hearing fee. The fee structure for the Property Chamber was restructured in 2026 into tiers, so figures published before then are unreliable — check the current fee on the application form itself rather than trusting a guide, including this one. Fees remain modest relative to the sums usually in dispute, and the Help with Fees scheme reduces or waives them for applicants on a low income or certain benefits.
How it runs
You apply, the landlord responds, the tribunal gives directions setting out what each side must produce and by when, and most cases are decided either on the papers or at a short hearing. Panels usually include a surveyor or valuer, so they understand a service charge account without needing it explained. Many applications settle once the landlord has to justify the figures in writing.
If several leaseholders are affected, apply together. It is the same building, the same accounts and the same evidence.
Where we fit
We are managing agents, not solicitors, and we do not take tribunal cases. What we can do is read your accounts and the lease and tell you whether you have a point — before you spend anything. If you do, we will say so. If the charge looks defensible, we will say that too.
Ask us about your building
Send us the demand, the most recent set of service charge accounts and a copy of your lease, and we will give you an honest view of where you stand. No charge, client or not.