Question
I am the managing agent of an office building with retail
premises on the ground floor and offices on the first, second and
third floors. I have just issued the service charge budgets for the
year ended 31 December 2019. The shop tenant has queried its
contribution to the service charge, which the lease states is a
"fair and reasonable proportion" as determined by the
landlord's surveyor. This has been determined at 33% of the
total service charge expenditure. The tenant also says that it will
not contribute to the costs of newly installed CCTV because such
costs are not covered in its lease. I have checked the tenant's
lease and it does not appear to contain a right to recover the CCTV
costs. I have also reviewed the service charge apportionments for
the building, which are based on square footage, and the office
tenant contributes 75%. What steps are required of me as a RICS
member to address these queries?
