Q&As

A is purchasing a freehold property which is subject to a long residential lease of the first floor. A will occupy the ground floor, which currently has no lease. The first floor lease is fairly old and basic, and simply provides that the tenant is to pay a 50% contribution to the Landlord's insurance and structural maintenance costs throughout the term of the lease. Would there be any recovery issues for my client? Presumably this would still be classed as a service charge, and the s 20 procedures would need to be abided by and so on?

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Produced in partnership with Morayo Fagborun Bennett of Gatehouse Chambers
Published on: 25 November 2015
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Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, s 18 (LTA 1985) defines a service charge as 'an amount payable by a tenant of a [dwelling] as part of or in addition to the rent—

  1. •

    which is payable, directly or indirectly, for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements or insurance or the landlord's costs of management, and

  2. •

    the whole or part of which varies or may vary according to the relevant costs.'

LTA 1985, s 30 provides that a landlord means

Morayo Fagborun Bennett
Morayo Fagborun Bennett

Gatehouse Chambers

Morayo specialises in all areas of landlord and tenant and property law.

Recent cases include Charalambous v Ng [2014] EWCA Civ 1604 (tenancy deposit schemes), Coope v Ward [2015] EWCA Civ 30 (easement of support and measured duty of care) and Farah v Hillingdon LBC [2014] EWCA Civ 359 (intentionality and homelessness). She also regularly acts in disrepair and dilapidation proceedings, service and estate charge disputes and residential and commercial lease renewals.

Morayo’s public law practice includes community care, Court of Protection, deprivation of liberty, welfare benefits, homelessness, judicial review and discrimination law. Recent cases concerned the community care needs of life sentenced prisoners, a deprivation of liberty case on the interface between the MCH and MCA and a test case on the lawfulness of the current practice adopted by decision makers in Employment Support Allowance assessments.

Morayo’s commercial practice covers contractual disputes in the property and employment sectors advocating in the courts and tribunals. A speciality is cases involving multiple discrimination complaints. Morayo came to the law with a background in philosophy and theology, graduating from St Hilda’s College, Oxford in 2000 with a 2:1. Her Masters in Crime, Human Rights and the International Community achieved a Distinction.

She attained a commendation in the Common Professional Examination and was graded outstanding on the Bar Vocational Course in 2004.

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United Kingdom
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