Council and social-landlord service charge disputes at the FTT

Right-to-Buy leaseholders in council and housing association blocks have the same s.27A challenge rights as private-sector leaseholders — but face additional layers: HRA-driven accounting, contractor framework agreements, discretionary "goodwill" reductions, and the specific £10,000 / £15,000 major works cap for former Right-to-Buy leaseholders.

The £10,000 / £15,000 cap ("Florrie's Law")

The Social Landlords Mandatory Reduction of Service Charges (England) Directions 2014 require councils and other social landlords to reduce a leaseholder's contribution to major works costs funded by government subsidy where the annual charge would exceed:

• £15,000 in Greater London;
• £10,000 elsewhere in England.

The cap applies to works funded (in whole or in part) by government subsidy — historically Decent Homes and cladding remediation. It does not apply to works funded solely by the landlord's own resources.

Common council service charge issues

• Framework overheads: contract call-offs via multi-block frameworks with opaque preliminaries and management fees.
• Cost apportionment: block-level costs allocated to individual flats using outdated square-metre calculations.
• Estimated vs actual: perennial refusal to reconcile large-block estimated bills against actual expenditure.
• Reserve funds: many councils don't run reserve funds, creating cliff-edge major works bills.

Overlap with the Building Safety Act 2022

Where the block is 11m/5+ storeys, BSA 2022 protections apply on top of council-specific rules. In many post-Grenfell council blocks, qualifying leaseholders have both:

• Sch 8 BSA caps (£15k in London for non-cladding);
• Florrie's Law cap (£15k in London for subsidised major works).

Read together, most qualifying council leaseholders in London are hard-capped at £15k per major works project, with cladding costs zero.

Preparing the case

• Get the full s.21 accounts and s.22 receipts.
• Compare year-on-year cost lines — councils often carry legacy inflation into new years.
• Request the framework agreement and specification for any major works.
• Check HRA subsidy classification of works.
• Consider Freedom of Information requests to sister boroughs for benchmark contractor rates.

Related

• [Building Safety Act protections](/guides/building-safety-act-2022-leaseholder-protections-explained)
• [How to challenge service charges at the FTT](/guides/how-to-challenge-service-charges-at-the-first-tier-tribunal)
• [Section 20 major works consultation](/guides/section-20-consultation-explained-for-leaseholders-major-works)