Agincourt Investments Limited v Natasha Joy Williams & Ors

Facts

The appellant, Agincourt Investments Limited, is the landlord of 19 Eglinton Hill, London SE18, a building of five flats; the five respondents are the leaseholders, each liable for one-fifth of the service charges. Following a consultation carried out under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, major works to the structure and exterior began in January 2018. After completion, the leaseholders instructed Ms Angela Lyon FRICS, who found that a number of specified items had not been done, had not been finished, or had not been carried out to a reasonable standard, and the leaseholders disputed several elements of the resulting service charges. In 2023 the landlord applied to the First-tier Tribunal under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for a determination of the charges payable for the major works and for other charges in 2022–2024; the appeal concerned only the major works charges. At a three-day hearing in November 2024, during which the hearing was adjourned to deal with a challenge to the landlord's photographic evidence, the FTT divided the disputed items into four categories, disallowing some, allowing 50% of others, and adjusting preliminaries and skip costs. The landlord failed to comply with a direction to produce a reconciled schedule of sums payable. It sought permission to appeal on two grounds; permission was refused on a factual challenge concerning access and granted only on the ground concerning the photographs.