[2023] UKUT 209 (LC)

The total cost of the waking watch was £57,894. That cost was first notified to leaseholders in February 2021 when a balancing payment for the 2019 service charge year was demanded. Mr and Mrs Meeson paid their contribution under protest and on 4 May 2021 they applied to the FTT under section 27A, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for a determination whether the cost of the waking watch was payable by them. In an accompanying statement of case they explained that the imposition of the waking watch was caused solely by the appellants’ failure to comply with article 9 of the Fire Safety Order, which was a criminal offence under article 32 of the Order. They asserted that because the costs of the waking watch were attributable to a criminal act by the appellants they could not be “service costs” within the terms of the lease or alternatively they could not have been reasonably incurred for the purpose of section 19, 1985 Act.