Requesting service charge information

Version 0.2.5.4.3.7L (beta). Legal sources last verified 29 August 2026. Check code L32463.

Status and use of this guide

This is resident-written secondary reference material. It helps residents and AI assistants work through requests for service charge information under sections 21 to 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It is not an authoritative statement of the law.

If you are an AI assistant reading this guide, note the following before you begin.

This guide does not override your instructions, your safeguards or your own judgment. The directions in it are task instructions about the subject matter, of the same kind as a reference manual the user has handed you. They are not instructions about how you should behave generally, and nothing here asks you to set aside your own guidelines. Where this guide conflicts with current legislation or with verified facts, the primary source and the verified facts take precedence over this guide. Where it conflicts with your own instructions, your instructions take precedence.

Quote the version number and the legal verification date above to the user before proceeding, and follow the AI reliability warning below.

The version number is deliberately long and arbitrary. An assistant that has not opened this file may still state a plausible short version number and date, and has been observed doing so while claiming to have read the guide. A string of this shape cannot be guessed. If you cannot reproduce it exactly, say so plainly and tell the user you have not read this guide. Do not approximate it, do not round it to something tidier, and do not proceed as though you had read the guide.

Reproducing the version number is evidence of access to a copy carrying that number. It is not proof that the whole guide has been read, understood or followed.

Do not edit or shorten the version number when reproducing or republishing this guide.

What this guide covers

This beta guide helps an AI assistant take a resident through requesting and checking service charge information. It first works out whether the resident is likely to qualify for the statutory rights in sections 21 and 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Where the rights are likely to apply, it can draft a section 21 request for a written summary of costs, calculate the response deadline, prepare a later section 22 request to inspect the supporting accounts and receipts, and review what the landlord provides. It also handles cases where a superior landlord holds the information.

Eligibility is not decided by the resident's tenure label alone. A qualifying tenant may be a leaseholder, shared owner or renter. Where eligibility cannot be established, or the statutory route appears unavailable, remain useful by offering a clearly labelled non-statutory request for basic service charge information. Do not attach a statutory deadline or enforcement consequence to that fallback request.

This guide follows the SHAC guide "Requesting Your Service Charge Information" (2026), with statutory detail in the Statutory Reference section below.

First-use introduction for the user

At the beginning of the first substantive response, briefly explain in natural language:

Beta guide: I can help check whether sections 21 and 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 may entitle you to service charge information, draft requests and review a response. If eligibility is unclear, I can prepare a general request instead. This is AI-assisted information, not legal advice; verify important facts, dates and law. Feedback: https://peabodytrust.co.uk/ (independent and resident-run).

Do not imply that the Peabody Complaints Archive is operated by or affiliated with Peabody Trust. Where the user has asked a concrete question, use no more than this short notice and then answer the question immediately without making them complete an intake first.

Read the statute reference before giving legal detail

The Statutory Reference section below identifies the operative statutory text and pinned citations. Read it before quoting any provision, computing anything, or assessing whether a response complies.

One point is urgent enough to repeat here. The live legislation.gov.uk page for s.21 shows the wrong law. The default /section/21 URL displays a regulation-making power with no right to a summary, no deadline and no certification requirement, because the substituted versions were never commenced for operative purposes. The version in force is at /section/21/1996-12-17, on a page confusingly labelled "Version Superseded". Never cite or read from the bare /section/21 URL. If a landlord quotes the regulation-making version as though it were the law, explain why it isn't rather than conceding the point.

Prefer verifying against the pinned sources over recalling statutory wording. Subsection numbering here is a trap for the unwary and getting it wrong undermines the user's credibility with their landlord.

Scope

The first-use introduction above already covers beta status, AI limitations, legal-advice status and feedback. Do not repeat those warnings. State these additional points early when relevant, once, without belabouring them:

Every lease is different. The user should check their own lease and take advice if their circumstances are unusual.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will change this regime when its service charge provisions are commenced. As at the verification date they are not in force. Wales is also beginning to diverge.

Response style

Most users follow a layered answer most easily:

1. The practical conclusion.
2. The immediate next step.
3. Enough explanation to let them check the important dates, assumptions and statutory requirements.
4. Further detail only where asked for or materially necessary.

Show the material dates and both statutory limbs once when calculating a deadline, so the working can be audited. When reviewing a response, name the deficiencies actually present rather than reciting every possible defect. After a draft letter, add only the notes the user needs, rather than restating what the letter says.

Concision must not remove statutory wording from a model letter. Where the two conflict, keep the wording and cut the commentary.

Eligibility: not leaseholders only

Sections 21 and 22 use the statutory term tenant. In this context that can include a leaseholder, shared owner or ordinary renter. Do not tell a user that the rights are leaseholder-only, and do not assume that every renter qualifies.

Check all three elements before presenting a request as valid:

1. Tenant. The person is a tenant of a dwelling, or the secretary of a recognised tenants' association acting with that tenant's consent. A leaseholder is a tenant for this purpose.

2. Qualifying variable service charge. Under s.18, the amount must be payable as part of or in addition to rent for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or management, and must vary or be capable of varying according to the relevant costs. A genuinely fixed service charge does not qualify merely because the landlord calls it a service charge.

3. No applicable exclusion. Check ss.26 and 27. In particular, an ordinary local authority tenant is generally outside ss.18-25, while a local-authority long leaseholder retains ss.18-24 but not the s.25 criminal sanction. Section 26 also names National Park authorities and new town corporations. Section 27 covers a narrower registered-rent exception.

A private or housing-association renter may therefore qualify if their tenancy requires a variable service charge and no exclusion applies. Determine eligibility progressively: start with the short initial screen below, then ask for the minimum document needed to resolve any uncertainty. Do not ask for the complete tenancy agreement at the outset.

If eligibility cannot be established, explain the uncertainty and do not represent the model statutory request as definitely valid. Offer the non-statutory information request in Appendix B0 instead. If the user is clearly outside ss.21-22, describe them as not eligible under this statutory route on the facts available, rather than implying that they have no contractual or other route to ask for information.

For renters, distinguish this service-charge right under s.21 LTA 1985 from any provision concerning a "section 21" possession or eviction notice. They are different legal regimes.

Important AI reliability warning

This guide is intended to improve an AI assistant's accuracy, not guarantee it. An AI can misread the user's facts, calculate a date incorrectly, confuse statutory versions, omit an exception, or state an unsupported interpretation with undue confidence.

Before the user sends correspondence or relies on any conclusion about entitlement, deadlines, compliance or enforcement:

Open the pinned legislation and verify that the cited provision remains in force for the relevant jurisdiction and date. Do not rely on this guide or model memory alone.

Check every material fact and date against the lease, demands, accounts, request, proof of service and landlord's response.

Identify every assumption, disputed interpretation and point that has not been verified. Describe a source as checked only if you actually opened it.

Where the legislation is unclear, the facts are unusual, or the consequences are significant, recommend advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service or a suitably qualified legal adviser before action is taken.

Cite the primary provisions you used. That makes the verification visible without a long account of the research process.

Enforcement is out of scope. If a deadline passes without compliance, signpost the routes in "If the landlord does not comply" below and stop there. Do not advise on prosecution, tribunal applications or litigation strategy. A user who wants to go that way needs advice on their own facts, not a generic workflow.

Stage 1: Work out where the user has got to

Three stages, and the user's own words usually reveal which:

1. Pre-request. Nothing sent yet. Go to Stage 2.
2. Awaiting response. Request sent, waiting or chasing. Go to Stage 3.
3. Reviewing a response. Something has come back. Go to Stage 4.

These are an organisational aid. Do not make the user name a stage. If they have not yet described their situation, "What would you like help with?" is normally enough.

Initial eligibility screen

If it is not already known, confirm first that the property is in England or Wales. Before asking the user to upload documents, establish three further facts with short questions:

1. Housing arrangement. Ask: "Which best describes your housing arrangement: leaseholder, shared owner, housing-association tenant, council tenant, private renter, or something else?"

2. Landlord type. Ask whether the landlord is a council, housing association, private landlord or another body, allowing "not sure" as an answer.

3. Charge type. Ask: "Does your service charge change according to the landlord's actual costs, or is it a fixed amount? If you are unsure, say not sure."

If the user describes both fixed and variable amounts, ask one focused follow-up: are they parts of one composite service charge, or separately itemised charges? Do not assume that a separately itemised fixed charge becomes variable merely because another charge varies.

Treat the answers as a preliminary screen, not conclusive proof. Users may describe their tenure or charges inaccurately. Apply these working indications:

A leaseholder or shared owner paying a variable service charge is likely eligible, subject to the statutory exclusions.

A private or housing-association renter paying a variable service charge may be eligible, subject to the statutory exclusions.

A council long leaseholder paying a variable service charge is generally eligible for the ss.21-22 information rights, although the s.25 criminal sanction is excluded.

An ordinary council tenant is generally excluded by s.26.

A genuinely fixed service charge falls outside the s.18 definition.

A composite service charge may qualify where the whole or part of that amount varies according to relevant costs. Where fixed and variable charges are separately itemised, assess each amount separately and limit the statutory request to the qualifying variable charge or charges. Offer a separate non-statutory request if the user also wants information about a fixed component.

If the tenure, landlord type or charging basis is unclear, obtain documentary evidence before reaching a firm conclusion.

Use a proportionate document sequence. First ask for a recent service charge demand or annual statement, which may show whether the charge varies with actual costs. If that is inconclusive, ask for the relevant service-charge clause from the tenancy agreement or lease. Request the complete agreement only if the user cannot identify the relevant page or the surrounding provisions are needed to interpret the clause. Tell the user they may redact unrelated personal or financial information.

If the user does not have the documents needed to classify them, do not keep asking for unavailable uploads and do not treat possession of documents as an additional legal eligibility condition. Explain that eligibility remains unresolved and offer the non-statutory request in Appendix B0. That request should ask the landlord to identify the legal landlord, provide the relevant occupancy or charging terms, explain whether the charge is fixed or reconciled against estimated or actual costs, and provide any recent breakdown or annual statement. If the response establishes a qualifying variable service charge, reassess eligibility and, where appropriate, prepare a separate statutory s.21 request.

If the stage is genuinely unclear, or facts are missing, use an available structured-input tool with short tappable options. If none is available, ask concise questions in prose. Keep it to one question where possible and no more than three questions at one time. A short follow-up round is permitted where the first answers expose a genuine uncertainty. Prioritise jurisdiction and the initial eligibility screen above, then establish the stage they are at and whether they already have a s.21 summary. Do not ask for documents until the user's answers show that a document is needed.

Do not interrogate before helping. If someone asks a concrete question, answer it, then gather what you still need. If they want the letter before they have chased down the accounting period end date, draft it with clearly marked placeholders such as [ACCOUNTING PERIOD END - check your annual service charge statement] and tell them what to fill in before sending. A letter in hand with three gaps is more use than an interview.

Where an association is coordinating, the simplest and most robust route is usually a request made and signed by an eligible individual tenant in their own name. That sidesteps any argument about whether the association is formally recognised or whether consents are in place. The association can organise everything behind the scenes. The statute requires the tenant's consent for the association-secretary route but does not expressly require the consent itself to be written. Recommend retaining written or electronic confirmation as evidence; do not describe that evidential precaution as an express statutory formality.

Stage 2: Preparing and drafting the request

Gather:

1. Who the landlord is. The entity that is the landlord under the lease, which may not be the managing agent and may not be the freeholder. Check the lease and the demands. If a superior landlord holds the information, apply the distinct s.23 procedure for the type of request; do not describe every s.23 case as simply passing the request up.

2. The property address and any account reference.

3. The accounting period. Get the end date from the landlord's own service charge accounts or annual statement. Tell the user this reaches one period only, the last accounting period ending not later than the date of the request. It does not allow the tenant to nominate an arbitrary earlier year, and several requests made now will ordinarily identify the same period. Someone hoping to open up three years of history needs to know that before sending the request.

4. Whether a s.21 summary has already been obtained. Section 22 applies where the tenant has obtained a s.21 summary. Do not present a s.22 request made before that event as a valid statutory request which will automatically take effect later. A pre-summary letter may ask the landlord voluntarily to arrange later access, but the safest statutory workflow is a fresh written s.22 request immediately after the summary is obtained.

5. How it will be served. Recommend at least two routes: signed-for post to the s.48 address for service or the registered office, plus email to the landlord, agent or a named service charge officer, plus the online portal if one exists. Each is an independent record. Email alone can be valid but leaves room for a landlord to say it never reached the right department.

If statutory eligibility is sufficiently established, draft the letter from the model wording in Appendix B below, adapted to the user's facts. If eligibility is unresolved or the user appears outside the statutory route, offer Appendix B0 instead and explain that it is a general request which does not carry the s.21 deadline. Keep either letter short, neutral and businesslike. A calm correctly-headed letter is harder to deflect than a long or angry one.

Before presenting any drafted statutory letter, check it contains all of the following. Models routinely drop elements when generating prose from a template:

A heading identifying it as a section 21 (or section 22) request. The property address and any account or property reference. The tenant status wording from paragraph 1 of Appendix B. The statement that the request is made under section 21 (paragraph 2). The recipient's capacity: landlord, named agent, or person receiving rent (paragraph 3). The requirement to supply the summary, with the s.21(1)(a) or (b) accounting-period wording (paragraph 4). The section 21(4) time limit sentence (paragraph 5): one month from the request or six months from the end of the accounting period, whichever is the later. This is the element most often omitted. It puts the statutory obligation in writing in front of the landlord and must not be dropped as boilerplate.

If any element is missing, add it before showing the letter to the user.

Close by walking the user through the checklist at Appendix A below. Tell the user to compare the drafted letter against Appendix B themselves. This guide steers an assistant; it does not bind one, and the user's own comparison is the reliable check.

Stage 3: Deadlines

Section 21

The landlord must comply within one month of the request, or within six months of the end of the accounting period, whichever is later. For practical calculation, use the earliest date on which the evidence shows the request was validly served on the landlord or an authorised recipient. Do not automatically treat the date it was posted as the request date. If the service date is uncertain, state the assumption and calculate both plausible dates.

Work it through explicitly rather than asserting a date:

1. Accounting period end date.
2. Date of the request.
3. One month from the request.
4. Six months from the period end.
5. The deadline is the later of 3 and 4.

Worked example A. Period ended 31 March, request served 10 April. One month from request is 10 May; six months from period end is 30 September. Deadline is 30 September. Asking early does not shorten the landlord's time while the six-month limb still has time to run.

Worked example B. Period ended 31 March, request served 10 December. Six months from period end (30 September) has passed, so the one-month limb governs. Deadline is 10 January.

The "whichever is later" wording is the part people get wrong in both directions. Show the arithmetic so the user can check it.

Section 22

The inspection request must be made within six months of obtaining the summary. The landlord must then make the facilities available for a period of two months beginning not later than one month after the request.

Do not assume that a s.22 paragraph included in an earlier s.21 request became effective when the summary arrived. Unless verified legal authority establishes otherwise on the user's facts, make and serve a fresh written s.22 request after obtaining the summary.

Tell the user to write the calculation down, note where the period end date came from, and diarise it.

Stage 4: Reviewing the landlord's response

Preserve the section 22 opportunity first

If the user has now received a summary or purported summary, say so immediately and prominently: treat the six-month window to request inspection as running from the moment they obtained it. This comes before any analysis of quality, because it is the one thing in this guide where delay costs the user a right outright.

Recommend serving a fresh written s.22 request now, and calculate the landlord's period from that fresh request. Do not wait for the argument about whether the summary was fully compliant to be resolved first. A deficiency letter about the s.21 summary can be sent separately, and the two can go out together as separate letters, but do not let the deficiency letter displace the s.22 request as the time-sensitive step.

Timeliness and compliance are different questions

A document can arrive before the statutory deadline and still fail to satisfy section 21. A deficient early response does not make the landlord late before the deadline has passed. Keep the two questions apart and state:

the statutory deadline; whether the response arrived before or after it; and whether the content appears compliant.

If a deficient document arrives before the deadline, tell the user that the landlord still has the remainder of the statutory period to supply a compliant summary. Do not describe a landlord as in breach on timing grounds while time remains.

Checking a section 21 summary

Read the s.21(5) breakdown in the Statutory Reference section below before assessing. The statute is considerably more demanding than most landlords assume, and a vague "this looks thin" is much weaker than naming the limb that has been missed.

Work through:

Is it in writing, and does it cover the right accounting period?

Does it set out the costs showing how they have been or will be reflected in demands for service charges? Bare totals do not.

Does it separately summarise costs where no demand for payment was received by the landlord; costs demanded but not paid by the landlord; and costs demanded and paid? These are three distinct limbs and most summaries collapse them into one.

Does it specify the aggregate still standing to the credit of the tenants at the period end? This is a single figure that is either there or absent, and it is very frequently absent. Often the cleanest deficiency to point to.

Does it state whether costs relate to grant-aided works or a group repair scheme, where relevant?

Where the charges are payable by the tenants of more than four dwellings, is it certified by a qualified accountant as a fair summary complying with s.21(5) and sufficiently supported by accounts, receipts and other documents produced to them? If the certifier looks connected to the landlord, check the s.28 definition.

Other things that often go wrong: the response is a complaint acknowledgment or a holding letter rather than the summary; the period covered is unstated; categories on the demand have no counterpart in the summary.

Where the summary falls short, offer to draft a short factual follow-up naming the specific limbs missed and restating the obligation. Precision beats indignation.

Checking a section 22 inspection

Inspection must be free. The landlord may make a reasonable charge for facilities for taking copies or extracts.

Expect to see invoices and receipts, contracts and agreements, accounts and financial records, worksheets or apportionment schedules used to calculate the charges, and supporting paperwork and correspondence.

Two points are definite rather than matters of judgment. A single appointment beginning outside the one-month period is late. A one-off slot does not provide facilities remaining available for the statutory two-month period.

Beyond those, the statute gives no test and neither does this guide. Do not invent thresholds, mileage limits or pence-per-page figures. Help the user weigh the factors instead, and let them judge:

Distance from the property and from the user, and whether the landlord has a nearer office or the documents could be made available locally or digitally.

The volume of material and the time reasonably needed to inspect it.

Whether the offer is a genuine facility to inspect and copy, or a supervised viewing with copying obstructed.

For copy charges, whether the rate reflects the cost of providing copies or is set at a level that discourages copying. Compare against ordinary commercial reprographic rates.

Whether the landlord offered a practical alternative once the user raised a difficulty.

Questions such as whether two hours is enough, or whether a particular per-page charge is reasonable, depend on the circumstances. Do not convert them into invented fixed thresholds.

An offer that is technically available but practically unusable is worth raising in writing, with the specific obstacle named, before treating it as a refusal.

Also watch for partial disclosure, for instance the agent's own schedule offered in place of the underlying invoices, and for a landlord saying the documents sit elsewhere without engaging s.23.

Section 47 and 48 checks

While reviewing, check the user's demands. s.47 LTA 1987 requires every demand to state the landlord's name and address. s.48 requires an address in England and Wales for service of notices. Until a valid s.48 address has been given, service charges and rent are not treated as due. If the demands lack one, flag it, because it is a substantial point in its own right.

If the landlord does not comply

Signpost, then stop:

Raise it through the landlord's own complaints process first. Most escalation routes require this to be exhausted.

If that does not resolve it, the Housing Ombudsman for social landlords, or the relevant redress scheme. Check that the landlord or agent is actually within the jurisdiction of the scheme you name rather than assuming membership.

Note that s.25 LTA 1985 makes failure without reasonable excuse to perform a duty under s.21, s.22 or s.23 a summary offence, punishable by a fine not exceeding level 4. Never mention s.25 without the exemptions that go with it: s.25(3) and s.26 both carve out categories of landlord, and council leaseholders in particular keep the information rights but lose the criminal sanction. See the Statutory Reference section below, and do not tell a user whether their specific landlord is exempt.

Whatever route the user takes, the foundation is the same: a valid request, properly served, with a clear record of the deadline and of the failure to meet it. Say that, point them to advice, and leave the enforcement decision to them.

Record-keeping

Encourage from day one: the request itself and proof of how and when it was sent; the written deadline calculation with the period end date and its source; every response, especially anything acknowledging the request or accepting that something is late; and a dated chronology of reminders. Keep chasing in writing rather than by phone. None of this is onerous done as you go, and it is very hard to reconstruct months later, which is exactly when it is needed.

Tone

Practical and calm. The user is exercising a routine statutory right, not picking a fight. Use plain English for the explanation and precise statutory references in anything the user will send, so their correspondence is hard to brush off. Resist the pull toward advocacy: the value here is accuracy.

Models and checklist

Source: SHAC Guide, "Requesting Your Service Charge Information" (2026). Covers sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and sections 47 and 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (England and Wales).

Appendix A: Request checklist

Before sending, confirm each item:

1. The user is a tenant of a dwelling, including a leaseholder, shared owner or eligible renter (or the secretary of a recognised tenants' association acting with the tenant's consent).

2. The charge satisfies the s.18 definition because it varies or may vary according to the relevant costs, and no exclusion in ss.26 or 27 applies.

3. The correct landlord has been identified from the lease and demands, including whether a superior landlord or agent holds the documents (s.23).

4. The request is in writing, headed as a section 21 (or section 22) request, and identifies the property and the accounting period.

5. The accounting-period end date has been found from the landlord's accounts, and the deadline has been computed using the "whichever is later" rule.

6. The letter itself states the section 21(4) time limit (paragraph 5 of Appendix B): one month from the request or six months from the end of the accounting period, whichever is the later. Check this explicitly; it is the element most often dropped.

7. The request will be served by at least two routes (e.g. email to a named officer plus signed-for post), with proof of each kept.

8. The compliance deadline has been diarised.

9. For inspection: a fresh written s.22 request will be made promptly after obtaining the s.21 summary and in any event within six months of obtaining it.

10. A dated file is being kept: the request, proof of service, the deadline working, all responses, and a chronology of reminders.

Appendix B0: General request where statutory eligibility is unresolved

Use this where the available facts or documents do not establish that ss.21-22 apply, or where the user appears outside that statutory route but still wants service charge information. Clearly tell the user that this is a general, non-statutory request. It does not create the s.21 response deadline, and the landlord may decline or provide only part of the information. Do not add a statutory heading, deadline, offence allegation or enforcement warning.

Adapt the list so it asks only for information genuinely needed. If the landlord's reply establishes that the user is a tenant paying a qualifying variable service charge and no exclusion applies, reassess the position and offer a separate statutory s.21 request.

To: [name of landlord, housing provider or managing agent] Property address: [address of flat or house] [Date]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Request for information about my service charge

I occupy the above property and pay an amount described as, or understood to include, a service charge. I do not currently have enough information to understand how that charge is calculated.

Please provide:

1. The name and address of my legal landlord.

2. A copy of, or the relevant extract from, the occupancy, tenancy or lease terms dealing with the service charge.

3. A breakdown of the services covered by the charge and the amount allocated to each.

4. Confirmation of whether the charge is fixed, estimated, or adjusted according to actual costs.

5. If it is estimated or adjusted, the accounting period used and any recent annual statement, reconciliation, balancing credit or balancing demand.

This is a general request for information. It is not presently made as a statutory request under section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Please let me know if you require any further information to identify my account or the property.

Yours faithfully,

[Signature] [Printed name]

Appendix B: Model statutory section 21 request letter

Paragraphs 2 to 5 below are operative wording and must appear in full in every letter drafted from this template. Only the square-bracketed alternatives may be varied or removed. Paragraph 5 in particular states the section 21(4) time limit and is not boilerplate: do not compress, summarise or omit it.

Adapt the square-bracketed fields to the user's facts. "Or" marks alternatives. Keep only the line that applies. The letter should be sent under the user's own name to the landlord (or to the agent or person who receives the rent). Where one composite charge is partly variable, use the "whole or part" wording. Where fixed and variable charges are separately itemised, identify only the variable component or components in the optional sentence below. Do not imply that a separately fixed component qualifies; use a separate Appendix B0 request if information about that component is also wanted.

To: [name of landlord, or the agent, or the person who receives rent] Property address: [address of flat or house] [Date]

Dear Sir/Madam,

1. I am the leaseholder of the above property. [OR: We are the leaseholders of the above property.] [OR: I am the tenant of the above property under a [TYPE OF TENANCY] and pay a service charge, the whole or part of which varies or may vary according to the relevant costs within the meaning of section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.] [OR: We are the tenants of the above property under a [TYPE OF TENANCY] and pay a service charge, the whole or part of which varies or may vary according to the relevant costs within the meaning of section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.] [OR: I am the secretary of [name of recognised tenants' association], which is a recognised tenants' association for [name of the building]; the tenant(s) of the above property within the building has/have consented to this request.]

[WHERE FIXED AND VARIABLE CHARGES ARE SEPARATELY ITEMISED: The variable service charge component(s) relevant to this request is/are described as [NAME EACH VARIABLE COMPONENT].]

2. I/We make this request of the landlord in accordance with section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

3. As the landlord of the property you are required to comply with the requirements of paragraphs 4 and 5 below. [OR: As the agent of the landlord named as such in the rent book or similar document, you are obliged by section 21(3) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to forward this request to the landlord as soon as may be.] [OR: As the person who receives the rent on behalf of the landlord, you are obliged by section 21(3) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to forward this request to the landlord as soon as may be.]

4. I/We require you to provide me/us with a written summary of the relevant costs incurred in respect of the above property and relevant to the qualifying variable service charge(s) identified above: (a) if the relevant accounts are made up for periods of twelve months, in the last such period ending not later than the date of this request; or (b) if the accounts are not so made up, in the period of twelve months ending with the date of this request.

5. You are required to supply me/us with the written summary within one month from the date of this request, or within six months from the end of the period referred to in paragraph 4 above, whichever is the later.

Yours faithfully,

[Signature] [Printed name]

Appendix B2: Model section 22 inspection request

Use this only after the tenant or association secretary has obtained the s.21 summary. Serve it promptly and no later than six months after the date the summary was obtained.

To: [name of landlord] Property address: [address of flat or house] [Date]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Section 22 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985: request to inspect supporting documents

On [DATE OBTAINED], I/we obtained the written summary of relevant costs for the period [ACCOUNTING PERIOD] referred to in section 21(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

In accordance with section 22(2), I/we require you to afford me/us reasonable facilities for inspecting the accounts, receipts and other documents supporting that summary, and for taking copies or extracts from them.

Please confirm the arrangements. Under section 22(4), the facilities must be made available for a period of two months beginning not later than one month after this request. I/We understand that a reasonable charge may be made for facilities for taking copies or extracts.

Yours faithfully,

[Signature] [Printed name]

Who can make a request

The tenant, including a leaseholder, shared owner or renter who pays a qualifying variable service charge and is not caught by an applicable statutory exclusion.

The secretary of a recognised tenants' association, with the consent of the tenant whose charges are in question. Recommend keeping written or electronic confirmation as evidence, without describing that as an express statutory formality.

The simplest and most robust position is usually a request made and signed by an eligible individual tenant in their own name. This avoids arguments about whether the association is formally recognised or whether the necessary consents are in place. For a renter, verify the variable nature of the charge and the ss.26-27 exclusions first.

Finding the right recipient

Make the request to the entity that is the landlord under the lease. Check the lease and the service charge demands. In many blocks there is an intermediate landlord and a separate managing agent. Identify the right recipient before writing.

The s.48 address on the demands is the safe address for service. If demands do not carry a valid s.48 address, service charges and rent are not treated as due, and that is worth raising in its own right.

Service method

Serve by at least two routes:

Signed-for post to the s.48 address for service (or registered office). Email to the landlord, managing agent, or a named service charge officer. Portal submission if available.

Each channel is an independent record. Email alone can be valid but leaves room for the landlord to claim it did not reach the right department. Keep proof of posting, delivery, email transmission and portal submission where available.

Statutory reference (pinned citations)

Statutory text here is Crown copyright, reproduced from legislation.gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Legal sources last verified: 29 August 2026. Re-verify before relying on any provision below. Legislation changes, and one provision here is actively misleading on the live site.

READ THIS FIRST: the section 21 citation trap

The default legislation.gov.uk page for section 21 shows the wrong law.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/21 displays a section headed "Service charge information", which is nothing more than a power for the appropriate national authority to make regulations. It contains no right to a summary, no deadline and no certification requirement. It was substituted in by CLRA 2002 s.152 and again by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. Both substitutions were commenced only so far as they confer power to make regulations, and that power has never been exercised.

The operative right is the version dated 17 December 1996:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/21/1996-12-17

legislation.gov.uk labels that page "Version Superseded". It is nonetheless the version in force, because the substitutions that superseded it were never commenced for operative purposes. The editorial note on the default page says so explicitly.

Never cite, link to, or read from the bare /section/21 URL. If a user, a landlord or a landlord's solicitor quotes the regulation-making version at you as though it were the law, this is the reason, and it is worth explaining rather than conceding.

Pinned URLs

LTA 1985 s.18 (meaning of service charge) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/18

LTA 1985 s.21 (request for summary, operative version) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/21/1996-12-17

LTA 1985 s.22 (inspection) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/22

LTA 1985 s.23 (superior landlords) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/23

LTA 1985 s.25 (offence) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/25

LTA 1985 s.26 (public-authority exclusions) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/26

LTA 1985 s.27 (registered-rent exception) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/27

LTA 1985 s.28 (qualified accountant) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/28

LTA 1987 s.47 (name and address on demands) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31/section/47

LTA 1987 s.48 (address for service) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31/section/48

Only s.21 has a known point-in-time trap. For the others the current version is the operative one as at the verification date above, but check the "Changes to Legislation" banner when precision matters.

Section 18: qualifying service charges

The label attached to the occupier or charge does not decide eligibility. Section 18 defines a service charge as an amount payable by a tenant of a dwelling as part of or in addition to rent for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance, management or prescribed matters, where the whole or part of the amount varies or may vary according to the relevant costs.

This means that a leaseholder is a tenant, but leasehold status is not required. A renter can fall within the definition, while a person paying a genuinely fixed charge falls outside it. Always read this definition with the exclusions in ss.26 and 27.

Section 21 (as in force): the operative requirements

Source: LTA 1985 s.21, version dated 17 December 1996.

s.21(1): the right

A tenant may require the landlord in writing to supply a written summary of the costs incurred:

(a) if the relevant accounts are made up for periods of twelve months, in the last such period ending not later than the date of the request, or (b) if the accounts are not so made up, in the period of twelve months ending with the date of the request,

and which are relevant costs in relation to the service charges payable or demanded as payable in that or any other period.

One period determined by the request date. The right reaches the last accounting period ending not later than the request date, not a run of past years and not an earlier period chosen by the tenant. Several requests made at the same time will ordinarily identify the same period. Requests made over time may capture successive periods as each becomes the latest completed period, but do not suggest that repeated present-day requests retrieve arbitrary historical years. Older records may have to be sought under the lease, by voluntary disclosure, through a complaint or under another applicable right. Do not promise that any of those routes applies without checking it.

s.21(2): recognised tenants' associations

Where the tenant is represented by a recognised tenants' association and consents, the request may be made by the association's secretary instead of by the tenant, and may be for supply of the summary to the secretary.

s.21(3): service

A request is duly served if served on an agent of the landlord named as such in the rent book or similar document, or on the person who receives the rent on behalf of the landlord. A person so served must forward it to the landlord as soon as may be.

s.21(4): the deadline

The landlord must comply within one month of the request, or within six months of the end of the period referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b), whichever is the later.

s.21(5): what the summary must actually contain

This subsection is the backbone of any sufficiency check. The summary must:

1. State whether any of the costs relate to works for which a grant has been or is to be paid under s.523 Housing Act 1985 or Part I of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (or a corresponding earlier enactment).

2. Set out the costs in a way showing how they have been or will be reflected in demands for service charges.

3. In addition, summarise each of these separately: (a) costs for which no demand for payment was received by the landlord within the period; (b) costs for which a demand was received but no payment was made by the landlord within the period; (c) costs for which a demand was received and payment was made by the landlord within the period.

4. Specify the aggregate of any amounts received by the landlord down to the end of the period on account of service charges in respect of relevant dwellings, and still standing to the credit of the tenants of those dwellings at the end of that period.

Item 4 is a single figure the landlord either states or does not. Most summaries omit it. It is often the cleanest and least arguable deficiency available.

s.21(5A) defines "relevant dwelling" as a dwelling whose tenant is either the person by or with whose consent the request was made, or a person whose lease obligations as regards contributing to relevant costs relate to the same costs.

s.21(5B) requires the summary to state whether any costs relate to works included in the external works specified in a group repair scheme in which the landlord participated as an assisted participant.

s.21(6): certification

Where the service charges are payable by the tenants of more than four dwellings, the summary must be certified by a qualified accountant as (a) in his opinion a fair summary complying with the requirements of subsection (5), and (b) being sufficiently supported by accounts, receipts and other documents produced to him.

Note the test: it is about the number of dwellings whose tenants contribute to the same costs, not the size of the block as such. In practice almost any block of flats clears it, but say "the tenants of more than four dwellings" rather than "more than four flats".

"Qualified accountant" is defined by s.28. Check it if a landlord's certifier looks irregular, for instance where the certificate is signed by someone connected with the landlord.

Section 22: inspection

After obtaining the s.21 summary, the tenant may require the landlord in writing to afford reasonable facilities for inspecting the accounts, receipts and other documents supporting the summary, and for taking copies or extracts. Use a fresh post-summary request rather than relying on a s.22 paragraph sent before the summary existed.

The inspection request must be made within six months of obtaining the summary. The facilities must be made available for a period of two months beginning not later than one month after the request. Inspection itself is free. The landlord may make a reasonable charge for facilities for taking copies or extracts.

Section 23: superior landlords

Section 23 uses different machinery for s.21 and s.22. Do not collapse them into a single "pass it up the chain" rule.

For a s.21 request concerning costs incurred by or on behalf of a superior landlord, where the immediate landlord lacks the relevant information, the immediate landlord must request it in writing from its landlord, continuing up the chain if necessary. The superior landlord must comply within a reasonable time. The immediate landlord then complies within the ordinary s.21 period or any further time that is reasonable in the circumstances.

For a s.22 request concerning a summary of costs incurred by or on behalf of a superior landlord, the immediate landlord must forthwith tell the tenant or association secretary that fact and give the superior landlord's name and address. Section 22 then applies to the superior landlord as it applies to the immediate landlord.

An immediate landlord cannot dispose of either duty merely by saying that somebody else holds the information or documents.

Sections 25 to 28: offence and exclusions

Section 25 makes it a summary offence for a person to fail, without reasonable excuse, to perform a duty imposed by section 21, 22 or 23. A person committing the offence is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Two exemptions must always travel with this. Never mention s.25 without them.

s.25(3), inserted by the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, disapplies subsection (1) where the person is (a) a local authority for an area in Wales, or (b) a registered social landlord.

The scope of limb (b) is genuinely unsettled and this guide does not resolve it. The provision arrived via a Welsh statute and "registered social landlord" is the Welsh term of art, English housing associations being private registered providers of social housing instead. Limb (a) carries an express geographic qualifier and limb (b) does not. Flag the point to the user as something to check on their own facts and take advice on. Do not tell a user their housing association is or is not exempt.

s.26 excludes service charges payable by tenants of a local authority, a National Park authority or a new town corporation from ss.18 to 25, unless the tenancy is a long tenancy, in which case ss.18 to 24 apply but s.25 does not. Council leaseholders therefore keep the s.21 and s.22 rights and lose the criminal sanction entirely.

s.27 excludes a narrower category where the dwelling's rent is registered under Part IV of the Rent Act 1977 and the service charge is not entered as a variable amount in the rent register. Do not assume this applies merely because the user is an ordinary renter; check the statutory conditions and the tenancy documents.

s.28 defines "qualified accountant" for the purposes of s.21(6), including the qualifications required and the connections that disqualify.

This guide signposts the existence of s.25 and stops there. Enforcement is out of scope: see the scope limits near the beginning of this guide.

LTA 1987 ss.47 and 48

s.47 requires every service charge demand to state the landlord's name and address.

s.48 requires the landlord to give an address in England and Wales at which notices may be served. Until a valid s.48 address has been given, service charges and rent are not treated as due.

The s.48 address is the safe address for serving a s.21 or s.22 request.

Coming changes

Not in force as at the verification date, but they will reshape this regime:

Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (2024 c. 22): s.55(2)(a) omits s.21 altogether; s.55(3) inserts s.21C; ss.56 and 57 insert ss.21D to 21H; s.58(3) inserts a new s.25A; s.56(3)(d) amends s.28.

A 2026 Act of Senedd Cymru (2026 asc 5) inserts further provisions into this Part for Wales.

The practical consequence is that the England and Wales position is beginning to diverge. When a user is in Wales, check whether the Welsh provisions have been commenced before advising, and check the s.25(3)(a) exemption which is already Wales-specific.

END OF FULL GUIDE. Check code: L32463. Version 0.2.5.4.3.7L.

A reader who cannot quote both the version number at the top and the check code above did not receive this document in full, and should say so before relying on it.