Service Charge Disputes in Wiltshire
3 published tribunal decisions from in and around Wiltshire, with what each one actually decided. The figures Wiltshire Council publishes, rather than a national average.
- Local authority
- Wiltshire Council
- Service
- Service charge disputes
- Published decisions
- 3 tribunal decisions
Service Charge Cases Decided in and Around Wiltshire
| Development | Case | What the tribunal decided, and why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 64-72 Hillier Road | CHI/00HY/LSC/2023/0032 6 November 2023 | All nine leaseholders of a block in a former barracks, redeveloped in 2005 to 2007, challenged about £19,000 a flat over two years for major works, redecoration and flooring, and the tribunal upheld all of the landlord's legal submissions. An oral assurance in 2007 that exterior repairs were the landlord's cost could not override the lease, and LPE replies saying no increase over 10 per cent or £100 was expected did not create an estoppel. The tribunal found the building had not been managed well: section 20 consultation was not completed properly in 2013 and again in 2016, and sinking fund contributions sat at about £60 a flat until 2018. But underfunding the sinking fund did not make the later works unreasonably incurred, and a 15 per cent management fee on the works was found reasonable. The leaseholders still won orders under section 20C and paragraph 5A stopping the landlord recovering its costs of the case from them. |
| 121 Victoria Road | CHI/00HY/LSC/2019/0093 8 January 2020 | A leaseholder in a purpose-built block of 12 flats, on a lease first granted by the former Kennet District Council, asked for the evidence behind £423.35 of redecoration and a run of smaller charges. The redecoration was proved from a composite invoice allocated across several blocks, but the questions exposed estate cleaning, equipment and external lighting charges made in error and an overcharge for electricity. His bill was cut by £45.81 and £51.21 for the two years, and the landlord undertook to honour a £1,964.48 sinking fund balance. A modest written challenge, decided on the papers without a hearing, was enough. |
| The Old Rectory, Malmesbury Road | CHI/00HY/LSC/2021/0091/SS 4 May 2022 | Four leaseholders challenged their service charges for 2018 to 2021 and won on most points. The tribunal halved the management fee charged to date, which had risen from £500 in 2019 to £600 a year, or £150 a flat, not because the figure was high but because of the management: no receipts in breach of the lease, no separate sinking fund account, demands not issued in a lawful form and interest claimed on sums not yet due. Charges passed on from Greensquare, the housing association the landlord bought the building from, including garage insurance, were not payable, nor was a £113 lock repair that was really a snagging defect. The demands from 2018 onwards had to be re-served with the statutory summary of rights and obligations and the landlord's name and address. |
What the Council Charges an Empty Flat in Wiltshire
Wiltshire is the exception on both halves of this, and a director who has read about a neighbouring council will have the wrong answer. It charges no second homes premium at all: its own guidance says the council has not introduced one and that the second home premium classes are not being applied. And its empty premium starts at two years rather than the one year Swindon, Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole all use, then runs at 200 per cent from five years and 300 from ten. A furnished flat standing empty in a Wiltshire block is therefore treated very differently from the same flat forty miles away, which is worth establishing before anyone budgets for it. The government's council taxbase return for October 2025 bears this out in numbers. Wiltshire reported 1,346 second homes and answered no to whether it had applied the second homes premium, so none of them paid one. It also reported 772 dwellings empty for between one and two years with no premium charged, against 181 empty for two to five years and paying a 100 per cent premium. A flat that falls empty in a Wiltshire block therefore runs a full year longer before the premium bites than the same flat would in Swindon or Dorset.
What We Do About Service Charge Disputes in Wiltshire
Service charge disputes in Wiltshire are part of a full management service. What we actually do:
- Answer a challenge with the reasoning the tribunal has actually applied nearby, rather than with a general statement about reasonableness.
- Tell a director what an empty flat will actually cost here, which is the first question asked after a probate flat sits empty.
Fixed annual fee, no commission on contractor work.
How This Works, in General
The general law, for every area: Service Charge Financial Management; disputes: tribunal support.