First time the property tribunal rules in favour of leaseholders under the Building Safety Act
Arjun Batish, 32, a leaseholder with no legal experience has won a leaseholder revolt against developer and freeholder Inspired Sutton to pay back almost £200,000 that was wrongly demanded to pay to remove cladding and replace dangerous balconies.
The case, believed to be the first time the First Ter Tribunal has considered the Building Safety Act 2022, is reported in The Times today:
Meet the cladiator who took on his developer over fire safety – and won
For the past six years the victims of Britain’s cladding crisis have often been just that: helpless casualties of housebuilder ineptitude and governmental misma
Faced with his shared of the bill – £18,000 – Arjun Batish led a group of 18 leaseholders in their dispute, which was heard by tribunal president Siobhan McGrath and Timothy Powell, who heads the London division.
But will landlord try to dump its legal costs on the non-participating leaseholders?
Leaseholders at St David’s Square, a prime site in London’s Docklands, have won their two-year service charge dispute against FirstPort and the landlord it serves.
Having already shaved off £100,000 in insurance commissions on the eve of the hearing in January, the leaseholders are likely to receive repayment of a similar sum for a leasing arrangement of an electronic door entry system that was installed at the site 23 years ago.
