QUESTION
A fellow leaseholder has apparently taken the Freeholder to the Tribunal and won some concessions in regard to Management Charge issues (ie Reductions in Charge) but it appears that the concessions that this leaseholder won are not being applied to all the other leaseholders, although they all share the same issue.
Is that correct? Must I take the Freeholder to the Tribunal in respect of my own leasehold flat to get the same concessions? Seems to me to be a whole lot of money being wasted for the same result.
ANSWER
The freeholder isn't obliged to apply any concessions made/agreed to at a Tribunal across the board and for the benefit of other leaseholders. There could be various reasons behind how/why they were made (for example, there may have been procedural errors). Try to obtain a copy of the Tribunal's decision from your fellow leaseholder as this will set out the reasons and basis for the concessions and you'll be able to verify whether what has been suggested to you is actually correct. Whilst a First Tier Tribunal judgment isn't binding on others - if your belief about the concessions is right - then you should write to the freeholder and query why the concessions haven't been applied to you / the other leaseholders and invite them to rectify this. Hopefully this will achieve your outcome. In the event that you are 'forced' to make a separate application to the Tribunal, then the fact that you will have a paper trail (including reference to the other FfT decision) showing your attempts to resolve this without recourse to proceedings is unlikely to be ignored by the Tribunal and may even assist you on any consideration on the issue of costs. Best of luck!
Naveen Agnihotri, Barrister at Arden Chambers
