Service Charge Demand for Residential Property

This Service Charge Demand for Residential Property should be used to request service charge payments from residential tenants of long leaseholds. Under the Tenant Fees Act, a service charge payment cannot be charged to a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy.

When Should This Form Be Used?

This form can be used in the following situations:

• at the start of the service charge year to request estimated service charge payments
• at the end of the year, once the accounts have been finalised, to request a balancing payment or issue a credit
• on an "ad hoc" basis, where the lease provides for an "as and when" service charge rather than a formal service charge regime

What Does the Service Charge Demand Include?

This Service Charge Demand contains fields for the landlord and tenant details, property address, tenant reference and invoice numbers, table for itemised service charge amounts, and landlord bank account details.

Legal Requirements: Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

The lease will usually give details of the service charge and landlords can only recover costs which are reasonable. A tenant has the right to apply to the Tribunal to challenge any service charges they feel are unreasonable. 

This document complies with the requirement under section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which requires the landlord’s name and address to be contained in all demands for rent and other payments from the tenant. The address must be the landlord’s own address and not that of the landlord’s agent.

The template also contains an optional statement under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 which requires a landlord to the tenant with an address in England and Wales where notices may be served on the landlord. This can be the landlord’s own address or the address of a managing agent or other third party.  If a Section 48 notice has already been provided in the lease separately, this part can be removed.  Until a valid Section 48 address is provided, service charges  and rent are not legally due from the tenant. 

Supporting Documents 

It is helpful to provide tenants with a Service Charge Statement to accompany the Demand. The Estimated Statement can be used detailing expected costs for the year. The Actual Statement shows the final costs incurred.  A Summary of Tenant’s Rights and Obligations for Variable Service Charge Demand should accompany the service charge demand relating to variable service charges only. 

This Service Charge Demand for Residential Property is a Microsoft Excel document in open format. Either enter the requisite details in the highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.

Once you have purchased access to the appropriate document folder click on the “Download Document” button below. You will be asked what you want to do with the file. It is recommended that you save the document to a location of your choice prior to viewing.

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