Freeholder won't provide invoices

pt1981

eddddy said:

pt1981 said:

Yeap, aware of the legislation but it seems toothless. The tribunal route seems to be of little use given the amounts 

Why?

It costs £100 to make an application. If you win, the freeholder usually has to repay your £100, and is told they cannot claim their legal costs back via the service charge.

You submit a statement as evidence, perhaps along the lines of...

The freeholder says they spent £500 on a roof repair
The freeholder has supplied no evidence that a roof repair was required
The freeholder has supplied no evidence that a roof repair was carried out satisfactorily
The freeholder is unable to specify the precise date that the roof repair was carried out
The freeholder is unable to provide a schedule or work, quote or invoice or any evidence that a payment was made
The freeholder is unable to provide any other type of document relating to the roof repair
The freeholder is unable to provide the name and address of the contractor who carried out the roof repair
The freeholder is unable to provide any evidence that the contractor was competent in performing roof repairs
The freeholder is unable to provide a statement from the contractor confirming that they carried out the repair
I do not recall seeing any scaffolding, ladders, or contractors working on the roof of the building

... or whatever.

Assuming your case is as strong as that, I think it's pretty obvious what a judge would decide 'on the balance of probabilities'.


Even if your case is weaker than that - the judge only needs to decide that your evidence is 'probably' true. (It's not like a criminal case, where you have to prove things 'beyond reasonable doubt')



But if the freeholder really is getting good quality repairs done cheaply by paying cash in hand - this will probably scupper that approach. And future repairs might work out more expensive.

Thanks. Is it really that simple with the FTT application? I've heard that the burden of proof is on the leaseholder and that things survey reports may be needed to support the application (e.g. to determine whether work was conducted and what exactly was done). 

eddddy

pt1981 said:

Thanks. Is it really that simple with the FTT application? I've heard that the burden of proof is on the leaseholder and that things survey reports may be needed to support the application (e.g. to determine whether work was conducted and what exactly was done). 

Take a look at this example decision by the tribunal:...
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fb3de83d3bf7f63d7075a19/LE53GW_BIR_00FN_LIS_2020_0012_decision.pdf


I've only scan read it, but it looks like a leaseholder was complaining about 13 items on their 2018 and 2019 service charge bills.

As a result...
- Their 2018 service charge was reduced by £227.31
- Their 2019 service charge was reduced by £363.58


As an example, item 3 on the list was Cleaning (presumably of communal areas)

• The freeholder was paying £25 per hour for cleaners
• The leaseholder said that £15 per hour was reasonable
• The tribunal decided that £20 per hour was reasonable

As a result, the tribunal ordered that the leaseholder's service charge be reduced by £19.93 in 2018 and by £28.47 in 2019


No survey reports had to be produced. The leaseholder said they got a quote from a cleaning firm for £15 per hour - but wasn't able to provide a copy of it. So the tribunal decided on £20.

So it's not that complicated.

Wanderingpomm

If the work is being paid in cash I would suspect that’s it’s also not properly accounted for.
you may want to ask HRMC to take a look at the company accounts

Mgman1965

Wanderingpomm said:

If the work is being paid in cash I would suspect that’s it’s also not properly accounted for.
you may want to ask HRMC to take a look at the company accounts

And with no receipt or invoices no guarantees for the Job either should the repair etc fail.