The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 contains various protections for leaseholders and assured tenants against unreasonable service charges (see, e.g. s.19, 1985 Act). By s.26, 1985 Act, tenancies granted by local authorities, National Park authorities or a new town corporation are excluded from protection unless they are long leases (i.e. granted for a term in excess of 21 years).

At the HLPA meeting yesterday (19.1.11) evening, it was mentioned that Pierce Glynn are involved in judicial review proceedings surrounding this exclusion. It appears that they have a client (a secure tenant? someone in Pt 7 temporary accommodation?) who contends that this exclusion is somehow unlawful. Does anyone know anything more about this? I presume that the tenant is arguing that he has no effective method of challenging his service charges and/or that the exclusion of protection under s.26, 1985 Act violates Art. 14, ECHR?

I won’t speculate any further, but I’d love to know more about this. Comments gratefully received!