Repair Or Replace? Residential Service Charge Update

The decision of the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Hounslow v Waaler [2017] EWCA Civ 45 will have a significant impact on a landlord's ability to recover the cost of improvement works.

An issue often encountered by a Landlord is whether to repair or replace. The usual principle behind a long lease of a flat is that a landlord is responsible for repairing the main structure and it will recover the costs through a service charge payable by a tenant.

Mrs Waaler was a long leaseholder of a flat owned by the London Borough of Hounslow. The building in which Mrs Waaler's flat was situated was in need of repair. The authority served the relevant notices to carry out works of repair which included replacement of a flat roof with a pitched roof, replacing wooden framed windows with metal framed units and external cladding. Some of the windows had been identified as requiring repair where rot had been discovered and all of the wooden window frames