Is your service charge demand legally collectable?
Five yes/no questions tied to specific sections of the Landlord and Tenant Acts. The answer is binary: each "no" is real exposure if you ever land at the First-tier Tribunal.
Works for both sides. Freeholders checking their own template, leaseholders deciding whether they can lawfully withhold.
Which side are you checking from?
Heads up: the demand regime is moving. The RICS Service Charge Residential Management Code, 4th edition is in force from 7 April 2026 (SI 2026/298) and is mandatory for RICS-regulated managing agents. Around 100 pages, complex, section 14.8 governs demand format. Separately, the LFRA 2024 statutory prescribed format is still pending secondary legislation. This five-question check tests the underlying primary-law duties (Sections 21B, 47/48, 42, 20, 20B) which remain in force.Full reference on what's live versus pending.
0 of 5 answered
Section 21B LTA 1985
Was the demand sent with the prescribed Summary of Rights and Obligations?
The Summary is in a fixed format (font, layout, exact wording) set by the Service Charges (Summary of Rights and Obligations) Regulations 2007. It must accompany every service charge demand.
What it looks like: a one-page document, headed "Service charges: summary of tenants' rights and obligations", with seven numbered paragraphs explaining the leaseholder's rights to challenge the demand. See the prescribed form →
Sections 47 & 48 LTA 1987
Does the demand show the freeholder's name and a service address in England & Wales?
Section 47 requires the freeholder's name and address on every written demand. Section 48 requires a service address in England & Wales for legal notices. Both must appear on the face of the demand itself, not just in a separate letterhead.
What counts: "Demand from John Smith, 12 Acacia Avenue, London E1 4AB" works. "Pay £150 to acc 12345678" with no name and address fails. A PO Box on its own can fail Section 48 if it's not a real service address.
Section 42 LTA 1987
Is the service charge money held in a separate client account, not mixed with the freeholder's personal or business funds?
Section 42 places service charge contributions on a statutory trust for the leaseholders. The money is held for them, not by you. It should sit in a designated client account, not your current account.
The test: if you had to produce a bank statement tomorrow showing the service-charge fund balance and what it has been spent on, could you? If the answer is "it's in my Lloyds current account next to my Sainsbury's payments", that's a Section 42 problem.
Section 20 LTA 1985
If the demand includes any major works costing over £250 per leaseholder, was a Section 20 consultation completed first?
Section 20 requires a three-stage consultation (notice of intention, observations, notice of estimates) before any qualifying works. The trigger is £250 per leaseholder, so in a 4-flat block it's any works costing £1,000+. Skip the consultation and the recoverable cost from each leaseholder is statutorily capped at £250.
If there are no major works in this demand. Just routine running costs like insurance, cleaning, gardening. Pick "Not applicable". Section 20 only bites on qualifying works (or qualifying long-term agreements over 12 months).
Section 20B LTA 1985
Was the demand served within 18 months of the costs being incurred?
Section 20B says a leaseholder is not liable for any service charge cost the freeholder incurred more than 18 months before the demand was served, unless a notice was served within that 18-month window saying the costs would be charged later.
Worked example: roof works happen in March 2024. The demand for those costs must reach the leaseholder by September 2025, or a Section 20B notice must have gone out before then. After that, the leaseholder doesn't owe the historic costs.