As a leaseholder, you have the right to get information about how your service charge money was spent in two ways: under the terms of your lease or through your legal rights to see the accounts.
Your lease
Most modern leases require landlords to provide accounts at the end of the year.
If your lease has such a clause, you can ask your landlord to comply by providing that information. Failure to do so could be a breach of the lease.
Your rights in the law
The law gives leaseholders a right to request a summary of the service charge costs. Having received the summary, you can then ask to inspect receipts and accounts from the last accounting year, or where accounts are not kept by accounting years, the past 12 months before your request.
You must make a request for a summary in writing. The landlord must provide it either within one month of your request or within 6 months of the end of the accounting period if that is later. The summary must be certified by a qualified accountant if there are more than four flats in the building.
Making a further request for receipts
You can ask to inspect accounts, receipts and any other relevant documents that shed more light on the summary. You must do this within 6 months of receiving the summary, whether it came to you because you asked requested it or as part of an end-of-year statement of account.
Landlords must also provide facilities for inspecting the documents within one month of your request and make them available for 2 months.
Template letters
- Letter to request a summary of service charge costs
- Letter asking to inspect accounts, receipts and other relevant documents
More information you might find useful:
- Service Charges and other issues – Summary of service charges accounts: advice guide
- Resolutions for service charge disputes: flowchart
- What to do if your landlord breaches your lease: FAQ
- More Frequently Asked Questions on Service Charges
- You can find out more information, about service charges on the LEASE Learn website – our e-learning platform.
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