Service charge demand pack template

Section 21B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires every service charge demand to be accompanied by a Summary of Rights and Obligations in the prescribed form set out in the Service Charges (Summary of Rights and Obligations) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/1257). Where the Summary in the prescribed form is missing, the leaseholder may withhold payment of the service charge until the Summary is supplied. The fix is procedural: re-issue the demand with the Summary attached. The prescribed-form Schedule is at legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/1257.

Itemise the BSR registration fee, the Building Assessment Certificate application fee, and any BSR assessment time as separate sub-lines pointing to the 2026-27 BSR charging scheme on gov.uk. Under the 2026-27 scheme, registration is £264 per building, the BAC application is £302, and assessment time is billed at £159 per hour. The reasonably-incurred test in section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is satisfied by the pass-through itemisation. Any margin or administration charge added on top is a separate question under the lease, and is governed by Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 if it is genuinely an administration charge.

There is no separate Building Safety Act framework for service-charge demands. The Building Safety Act 2022 s.112 inserted a set of "building safety costs" provisions into the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (ss.30A to 30I) before commencement, so HRB-related safety costs are part of the standard service-charge regime that governs your demand pack. The same LTA 1985 anchors apply: s.18 (reasonably-incurred test), s.20 and s.20ZA (consultation on qualifying works), s.20B (18-month recovery window), s.21B (Summary of Rights), s.22 (inspection right), and LTA 1987 ss.47-48 (name and address on demand). In a Right to Manage building, the RTM company is the landlord-equivalent for service-charge purposes under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002; that does not make the RTM company the Principal Accountable Person under the BSA, which is a separate question about who registers the building with the BSR.

Under section 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the leaseholder's written request must be honoured within one month for the documents to be made available, and the inspection must be facilitated within two months of the request. The documents include the receipts, contracts, accounts, FRA reports, contractor competence credentials, lift LOLER certificates, and the lease clause that authorises the charge. The right is a transparency mechanism that lets the leaseholder verify the spend; the response is to put the file together and arrange the inspection within the windows.

Under section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, costs incurred more than 18 months before the demand is served are not recoverable from the leaseholder, unless a written s.20B(2) notification was served on the leaseholder within the 18-month window saying that the cost has been incurred and that a demand for it will follow. If that notification was served in time, the demand can land later citing the prior notification. If no notification was served and the 18-month window has closed, the cost is not recoverable from leaseholders and must be absorbed.