Cases - Westlake Estates Ltd v Olutobi James Yinusa

Record details

Name

Westlake Estates Ltd v Olutobi James Yinusa

Date

[2019]

Citation

UKUT 225 (LC)

Legislation

• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

Keywords

Service charges – s.47 Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 – whether service charges are payable pursuant to s.27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

Summary

Under s.47 of the Landlord and Tenant’s Act 1987 a written demand given to a tenant must contain the landlord’s name and address. If the landlord does not have and address in England and Wales, the landlord must provide an address in England and Wales for which notices may be served on the landlord by the tenant.

In this case the respondent tenant disputed that his appellant landlord had served valid service charge demands for the periods 2012–2017. The landlord’s demands for those periods did not expressly state that the name and address given on the demands was that of the landlord. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) agreed and found that the service charges were invalid and in breach of s.47 of the 1987 Act. Accordingly, the tenant was not liable to pay the service charges for the relevant periods. The landlord appealed.

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UT) UT upheld the appellant’s appeal. Following the earlier decision of the UT in Terhas Tedla v Camaret Court Residents Association Ltd [2015] UKUT 221, the UT reaffirmed that only where a written demand contained more than 1 name and address was it necessary to identify the landlord in the demand to avoid confusion. Section 47 of the 1987 Act did not impose an additional requirement on a landlord to expressly identify themselves as the landlord when the written demand only contained 1 name and address. In such a scenario it was clear that the details provided was that of the landlord.