• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
Donate

Leasehold Knowledge Management Logo

Secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform

Mobile Menu

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
  • Advice
  • News
    • Find everything …
    • About Peverel group
    • APPG
    • ARMA
    • Bellway
    • Benjamin Mire
    • Brixton Hill Court
    • Canary Riverside
    • Charter Quay
    • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
    • Cladding scandal
    • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
    • Commonhold
    • Communities Select Committee
    • Conveyancing Association
    • Countrywide
    • MHCLG
    • E&J Capital Partners
    • Exit fees
    • FirstPort
    • Fleecehold
    • Forfeiture
    • FPRA
    • Gleeson Homes
    • Ground rent scandal
    • Hanover
    • House managers flat
    • House of Lords
    • Housing associations
    • Informal lease extension
    • Insurance
    • IRPM
    • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
    • John Christodoulou
    • Justin Bates
    • Justin Madders MP
    • Law Commission
    • LEASE
    • Liam Spender
    • Local authority leasehold
    • London Assembly
    • Louie Burns
    • Martin Paine
    • McCarthy and Stone
    • Moskovitz / Gurvits
    • Mulberry Mews
    • National Leasehold Campaign
    • Oakland Court
    • Park Homes
    • Parliament
    • Persimmon
    • Peverel
    • Philip Rainey QC
    • Plantation Wharf
    • Press
    • Property tribunal
    • Prostitutes
    • Quadrangle House
    • Redrow
    • Retirement
    • Richard Davidoff
    • RICS
    • Right To Manage Federation
    • Roger Southam
    • Rooftop development
    • RTM
    • Sean Powell
    • SFO
    • Shared ownership
    • Sinclair Gardens Investments
    • Sir Ed Davey
    • Sir Peter Bottomley
    • St George’s Wharf
    • Subletting
    • Taylor Wimpey
    • Tchenguiz
    • Warwick Estates
    • West India Quay
    • William Waldorf Astor
    • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
  • [Custom]
Menu
  • Advice
  • News
      • Find everything …
      • About Peverel group
      • APPG
      • ARMA
      • Bellway
      • Benjamin Mire
      • Brixton Hill Court
      • Canary Riverside
      • Charter Quay
      • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
      • Cladding scandal
      • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
      • Commonhold
      • Communities Select Committee
      • Conveyancing Association
      • Countrywide
      • MHCLG
      • E&J Capital Partners
      • Exit fees
      • FirstPort
      • Fleecehold
      • Forfeiture
      • FPRA
      • Gleeson Homes
      • Ground rent scandal
      • Hanover
      • House managers flat
      • House of Lords
      • Housing associations
      • Informal lease extension
      • Insurance
      • IRPM
      • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
      • John Christodoulou
      • Justin Bates
      • Justin Madders MP
      • Law Commission
      • LEASE
      • Liam Spender
      • Local authority leasehold
      • London Assembly
      • Louie Burns
      • Martin Paine
      • McCarthy and Stone
      • Moskovitz / Gurvits
      • Mulberry Mews
      • National Leasehold Campaign
      • Oakland Court
      • Park Homes
      • Parliament
      • Persimmon
      • Peverel
      • Philip Rainey QC
      • Plantation Wharf
      • Press
      • Property tribunal
      • Prostitutes
      • Quadrangle House
      • Redrow
      • Retirement
      • Richard Davidoff
      • RICS
      • Right To Manage Federation
      • Roger Southam
      • Rooftop development
      • RTM
      • Sean Powell
      • SFO
      • Shared ownership
      • Sinclair Gardens Investments
      • Sir Ed Davey
      • Sir Peter Bottomley
      • St George’s Wharf
      • Subletting
      • Taylor Wimpey
      • Tchenguiz
      • Warwick Estates
      • West India Quay
      • William Waldorf Astor
      • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
You are here: Home / Latest News / Section 20B: Joseph and Esther Gurvits too late to get £3,387 service charges after an RTM

Section 20B: Joseph and Esther Gurvits too late to get £3,387 service charges after an RTM

April 22, 2020 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

The Upper Tribunal has upheld an appeal by a lay applicant against leasehold sector professionals Joseph and Esther Gurvits who served a demand for funds after 18 months had passed.

Two leaseholders at a three-flat Victorian terrace at 4 Concanon Road, Brixton, in south London, lost in the First Tier Tribunal, but one went on successfully to appeal in the Upper Tribunal which ruled that £3,387.48 was not payable.

The block, where the freehold is owned by Joseph and Esther Gurvits’ company Assethold Limited and managed by their property management company Eagerstates Limited.

It went right to manage on October 9 2016, but Assethold Limited successfully argued at the FTT that there were outstanding service charges including for a major works.

These were accounted for in the service charges of 2015/16 and part of 2016/17. The leaseholders quized their reasonableness and payability, and questioned whether “the 18 month rule” of section 20B of the 1985 Act applied to some or all of the amount.

The Upper Tribunal noted that Section 20B of the 1985 Act says:

“(1) If any of the relevant costs taken into account in determining the amount of any service charge were incurred more than 18 months before a demand for payment of the service charge is served on the tenant, then (subject to subsection (2)), the tenant shall not be liable to pay so much of the service charge as reflects the costs so incurred.

“(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply if, within the period of 18 months beginning with the date when the relevant costs in question were incurred, the tenant was notified in writing that those costs had been incurred and that he would subsequently be required under the terms of his lease to contribute to them by the payment of a service charge.”

At the FTT, Assethold Limited had argued:

“We do not understand the notion that the 18-month rule should apply. The final accounts were provided to the RTM company when they took over the management and well within the 18 months of the expenditure.”

However, the Upper Tribunal ruled that the landlord’s bill was not served correctly. It referenced another case, Skelton v DBS Homes (Kings Hill) Limited [2017] EWCA Civ 1139 paragraph 18: “it is not enough under section 20B that the tenant has received the information that his landlord proposes to make a demand”.

The Upper Tribunal ruled. “The FTT’s decision is set aside, and the Tribunal substitutes its own decision that nothing is owed by the appellant to the respondent by way of service charges for the period 25 March 2016 to 9 October 2016.”

It also ordered that Assethold Limited reimburse the appellant the amount of the tribunal’s fees, unless it could come up with a reason “why such an order should not be made”.

The full ruling is here: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/LC/2020/115.html

It is considered by the Nearly Legal website here:

Service charges – too late and too varied – Nearly Legal: Housing Law News and Comment

A couple of Upper Tribunal appeal decisions on service charge issues, with the second of particular significance. Cookson v Assethold Ltd (LANDLORD AND TENANT – SERVICE CHARGES) (2020) UKUT 115 (LC) An appeal on section 20B Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. In this case, the service charge year ran from 25 March.

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailPensioners in third escape attempt from Gurvits Average service charges are £1,863, but rise to £2,777 for new builds Default ThumbnailManaging agent Joseph Gurvits named in Commons – an hour after MP attends ARMA round-table conference on tougher ethical standards Default ThumbnailLegal Costs – Part II Default ThumbnailBottomley meets Joseph Gurvits and Israel Moskovitz over leasehold right to manage disputes at Plymouth retirement developments – but residents are determined to fight it out

Category: Gurvits, Latest News, Moskovitz / Gurvits, NewsTag: Assethold Limited, Eagerstates, Esther Gurvits, Joseph Gurvits, Section 20, Upper-tier Tribunal

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @LKPleasehold

Mentions

Anthony Essien (34) APPG (37) ARMA (87) Bellway (30) Benjamin Mire (32) Cladding scandal (71) Clive Betts MP (31) CMA (44) Commonhold (52) Competition and Markets Authority (39) Countryside Properties plc (33) FirstPort (40) Grenfell cladding (56) Ground rents (54) Harry Scoffin (150) James Brokenshire MP (31) Jim Fitzpatrick (35) Jim Fitzpatrick MP (30) Justin Bates (40) Justin Madders MP (64) Katie Kendrick (37) Law Commission (60) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (48) Martin Boyd (80) McCarthy and Stone (39) National Leasehold Campaign (38) Persimmon (49) Peverel (61) Property tribunal (49) Redrow (30) Retirement (37) Robert Jenrick (33) Roger Southam (47) Sajid Javid (38) Sebastian O’Kelly (55) Sir Peter Bottomley (200) Taylor Wimpey (106) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (33) The Times (31) Vincent Tchenguiz (42) Waking watch contracts (40)
Previous Post: «Sonia McColl OBE Two charged with theft of mobile home of Sonia McColl OBE
Next Post: Government may help over waking watch bills »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lucinda cookson

    April 23, 2020 at 8:46 am

    Hi. This was my case. Facts aren’t quite right which doesn’t matter as outcome successful. I can tell you a lot about the gurvits family in this case should you be interested. L Cookson

    • Lucinda cookson

      April 23, 2020 at 9:02 am

      Nearly legal.co.uk give a better explanation of the case

    • Martin Shortis

      April 23, 2020 at 11:20 am

      Dear Lucinda,
      We would be very interested to hear more about the Gurvits family. Having suffered under their “management ” since before 2003 we are currently trying to escape!

      Thank you

      • Chris Weare

        April 23, 2020 at 2:10 pm

        Cannot believe the Gurvits family are still at it. We were lucky enough to get out from under them by selling our property in 2010. I now live in Australia and still have sleepless nights from the trouble they caused and the money they extorted out of us because of the ridiculous laws that empowered them to steal money from people. It has been 10 years now and I am finally beginning to burn the endless paperwork that I accumulated from the many court cases we landed up in with them. Sound advice for anyone being managed by this family would be to get out. I have many horror stories to tell.

      • l cookson

        April 26, 2020 at 4:07 pm

        not sure how I can contact you!

Above Footer

Advising leaseholders. Avoiding disasters.
Stopping forfeiture. Exposing abuses. Urging reform.

We depend on individuals for the majority of our funding.

Support Us and Donate

LKP Managing Agents

Become an LKP Managing Agent

Common Ground
Adam Church
Blocnet property management2

Stay in Touch

To achieve victory in the leasehold game where you are playing against professionals and with rules that they know all too well - stay informed with the LKP newsletter.
Sign Up for Newsletter

Professional Directory

The following advertisements are from firms that seek business from leaseholders.
Click on the logos for company profiles.

Footer

About LKP

  • What is LKP
  • Privacy and data

Categories

  • News
  • Cladding scandal
  • Commonhold
  • Law Commission
  • Fleecehold
  • Parliament
  • Press
  • APPG

Contact

Leasehold Knowledge Partnership
Open Data Institute
5th Floor
Kings Place
London N1 9AG

sok@leaseholdknowledge.com

Copyright © 2023 Leasehold Knowledge Partnership | All rights reserved
Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Limited (company number: 08999652) is a company limited by guarantee that is a registered charity (number: 1162584) with the Charities Commission.
LKP website is hosted at www.34sp.com
Website by Callia Web