Case No. UKUT-285-(LC)-UTLC-Case-Numbers:-LC-2022-125

20.The FTT’s figure of £1,673.16 was made up of the £995.44 due in respect of actual charges to June 2019 (see paragraph 7 above), plus £677.72 in respect of the estimated charges demanded at that date. That figure is the £1,208.72 demanded (see paragraph 8 above) for estimated charges less £531 for the estimated charge in respect of work to be done on the meter.21.Of the estimated charge in respect of the meter cupboard works the FTT said (at its paragraph 15):“The tribunal finds these costs unsubstantiated. Reference was made to ‘meter cupboard works as per section 20 notices’ in the estimated service charge account June 2018/19 produced by the applicant. However, these notices were not provided to the tribunal, or any evidence of the works having been carried out with the actual service charge account for 2018/19 omitting this item. Therefore, the tribunal finds these sums are not reasonable or payable by the respondent in his 1/3 share [being half of one third of £3,186] i.e. £531.”22.The service charge demand of 1 June 2018 listed, among the items comprising the estimated charges, “Meter Cupboard works as per section 20 notices”, although there is no mention of section 20 notices in the demand dated 3 June 2019. Mr Granby surmised that section 20 notices may have been prepared, at the point when the work was first planned. But there is no requirement for consultation under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 in respect of estimated charges (23 Dollis Avenue (1998) Ltd v Vejdani [2016] UKUT 365 (LC))23.The landlord appeals the decision that this charge was not reasonable or payable on the basis that the two reasons given for rejecting it were wrong in law. The fact that the cost is “unsubstantiated” is not relevant; it is for the leaseholder to challenge the reasonableness of the charge (see paragraph 15 above), and the respondent did not do so. And there is no need for a section 20 process to be followed in respect of estimated charges.24.The appellant’s two points are obviously right and the appeal succeeds on this point. The Tribunal substitutes its own decision that the estimated service charges demanded in June 2019 are reasonable and payable in the sum of £1,208.72.25.At the hearing Mr Franco explained that he did not understand why the estimated charge for the work on the meter cupboard has appeared in successive service charge demands; this was not an issue in the appeal but I asked Mr Granby to ask his client to provide an explanation for Mr Franco.