Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Braganza v Riverside: UT confirms landlord’s surveyor may vary residential service charge apportionment if rational; FTT jurisdiction under LTA 1985 s27A limited post-Aviva (England and Wales)

Published on: 06 October 2023

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

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Article summary

Braganza v the Riverside Group Ltd [2023] UKUT 243 (LC) What are the practical implications of this case?

B’s service charge liability was framed as a ‘Specified Proportion’ of the overall expenditure. The drafting clearly contemplated a percentage, not a monetary amount. Although the lease conferred on the landlord’s surveyor the ability to increase or reduce that figure where necessary or equitable, the document was plainly prepared on the footing that this Specified Proportion would be an initial fixed percentage. However, something appears to have gone astray at completion: in the Particulars the Specified Proportion was entered as a fixed monthly sum instead. While this did not alter the outcome of the case, it did require the landlord’s surveyor to determine a fresh Specified Proportion each year. This feature therefore highlights how vigilant practitioners must be when filling in blanks on completion, ensuring that any inserted wording accords with the manner in which the relevant term is employed and defined throughout the lease. It is very common in residential leases for the landlord’s surveyor to have the right to set and vary each leaseholder’s share of the service charge in light of prevailing circumstances, and that was the position here...

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