Key Landlord Rulings: Service Charges & Knotweed Claims

The Supreme Court has had a stab at clearing up how landlords should split service charges when several homes share the same site.

The case - Aviva Investors Ground Rent GP Ltd v Williams - concerned flats and commercial premises in a block at Southsea, Hampshire.

At an earlier First-Tier Property Tribunal hearing, the leaseholders argued that the landlord council did not contractually oblige them to pay a percentage share of the service charge or ‘such part as the landlord may otherwise reasonably determine’.

The leaseholders claimed the landlord could not claim a variable amount.

The First Tier Tribunal agreed and struck out the wording, leaving the clause to say the tenants should pay a fixed percentage of the service charge.

The landlord appealed the decision to the Upper Property Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

Law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper, acting for Aviva Investors, said the ruling was significant because hundreds of thousands of leases require leaseholders to pay a fixed percentage ground rent. The ruling additionally allowed the landlord to vary the service charge percentages.

Tenants take the lovely landlord to the tribunal

Tenants praised their ‘lovely’ landlord but still took him before a property tribunal to seek an £11,000 rent refund.

The five tenants of the HMO near Euston Station, London, told a First-Tier Property Tribunal that they had a good relationship with rent-to-rent landlord David Ravelo. They called him a ‘lovely person’ but complained that he was too slow to deal with an ant infestation, mould, and other maintenance issues.

The landlord - David Ravelo - admitted that he had failed to licence the house in multiple occupation near Euston Station, North London.

However, Ravelo had the penalty discounted from £20,000 as the offence was ‘mid-range in seriousness’ and paid utility bills for the tenants as part of their tenancy agreements.

Ravelo tried to blame his letting agents for failing to licence the property. Still, the tribunal pointed out he had other licensed HMOs and was an experienced landlord who knew his way around HMO red tape and what he had to do to make the letting legal.

Rent-to-rent is when a property manager or landlord sublets a home to tenants.

Licensing buck stops with the landlord

A landlord has lost his appeal against a fine for renting out unlicensed homes in a selective licensing neighbourhood.

City Estate Holdings owner Michael Kosmas was ordered to pay more than £9,000 in July 2021 for failing to licence the Gateshead homes.

Kosmas appealed the fine at a recent First Tier Property Tribunal. He argued his advisers failed to tell him of the licensing requirement, and as a professional landlord, he needed more time to keep up with changing legislation.

The tribunal countered he should have asked his lawyers to brief him on any legal points he should have been aware of.

The case will return to a First Tier Tribunal to reassess the fine amount.

£305,000 knotweed payout for blighted buy to let

A council that allowed Japanese knotweed to creep from a cycle track to infest landlord, Marc Davies’ rental home, must pay £5,000 compensation.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the Bridgend Council, Wales, must pay the money plus £300,000 in costs despite trying to eradicate the invasive plant.

Even though the council had worked to remove the plant, Davies argued that the invasion blighted his property value, which was not his fault.

The decision overturned two lower court rulings and may have set a precedent for more cases against councils.

Barrister Tom Carter confirmed the importance of the ruling, saying: 

“It confirms that a homeowner who suffers a loss in the value of their home from the stigma left by Japanese knotweed even after it has been treated can recover damages for that loss.”

Knotweed is a bamboo-like plant that can grow up to 10 centimetres a day, displaces native plants and can lead to structural damage to property by punching through tarmac and concrete.