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Section 27A: Liability to pay service charges: jurisdiction

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 · 1985 c. 70View on legislation.gov.uk

Our take on Section 27A: Liability to pay service charges: jurisdiction

Paying a service charge does not by itself stop you challenging it later. The First-tier Tribunal in England, or the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales, can rule on whether a charge is payable and how much, even for works not yet done, and housing association tenants on variable charges can apply too. In England it costs £114 to apply and £227 for a hearing, and each side usually pays its own legal costs. In our view the trap is delay. Years of paying without complaint while you had the facts to object can count as agreement, so protest in writing, and ask the tribunal to stop your landlord adding its legal costs to your service charge.

An application may be made to the appropriate tribunal for a determination whether a service charge is payable and, if it is, as to—

the person by whom it is payable,
the person to whom it is payable,
the amount which is payable,
the date at or by which it is payable, and
the manner in which it is payable.

Subsection (1) applies whether or not any payment has been made.

An application may also be made to the appropriate tribunal for a determination whether, if costs were incurred for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or management of any specified description, a service charge would be payable for the costs and, if it would, as to—

the person by whom it would be payable,
the person to whom it would be payable,
the amount which would be payable,
the date at or by which it would be payable, and
the manner in which it would be payable.

No application under subsection (1) or (3) may be made in respect of a matter which—

has been agreed or admitted by the tenant,
has been, or is to be, referred to arbitration pursuant to a post-dispute arbitration agreement to which the tenant is a party,
has been the subject of determination by a court, or
has been the subject of determination by an arbitral tribunal pursuant to a post-dispute arbitration agreement.

But the tenant is not to be taken to have agreed or admitted any matter by reason only of having made any payment.

An agreement by the tenant of a dwelling (other than a post-dispute arbitration agreement) is void in so far as it purports to provide for a determination—

in a particular manner, or
on particular evidence,

of any question which may be the subject of an application under subsection (1) or (3).

The jurisdiction conferred on the appropriate tribunal in respect of any matter by virtue of this section is in addition to any jurisdiction of a court in respect of the matter.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.