Reshma Tachkani v Thornfield Hawley Management Company Limited

Facts

Mrs Reshma Tachkani holds the long lease of flat 10 at Thornfield Green, Camberley, a development of 24 residential units divided between four blocks set in their own gardens and grounds. She holds two leases, described by the First-tier Tribunal as the "Ground Rent Lease" and the "Service Charge Lease", both dated 5 February 1986: the first granted by the then freeholder Lance Properties (Woking) Limited, the second by Thornfield Hawley Management Company Limited ("THMC"), said to hold a 999-year lease of the estate other than the flats themselves. Both leases contain service charge provisions. THMC has employed Sennen Property Management as its agents since November 2017. THMC had built up a reserve fund over several years and demanded contributions to it through the service charge; Ms Tachkani maintained that no reserve fund was permitted by her leases. In 2025 THMC applied to the First-tier Tribunal under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for a determination whether service charges were payable for the years 2018 to 2025. The FTT decided a great many issues against Ms Tachkani, holding that the leases' broad repairing obligation implied a power to accumulate a reserve fund, that the lease had implicitly been varied, and that she was estopped from disputing the fund's validity. Permission to appeal was granted by the Upper Tribunal on the reserve fund ground alone.