Guide · Leasehold, England & Wales · Reviewed 12 July 2026
I've already paid — can I still challenge my service charge?
Yes. This is one of the most useful and least known rules in leasehold law: paying a service charge does not mean you agreed it. The First-tier Tribunal can determine whether a charge was payable and reasonable even after the money has left your account.
The rule
Section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 lets a leaseholder apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a determination of whether a service charge is payable — and s.27A(5) states that a tenant is not to be taken to have agreed a charge "by reason only of having made any payment". Paying under pressure of a deadline, paying to keep a mortgage lender calm, paying because the arrears letters were unpleasant: none of it surrenders the challenge.
Why people pay first, and why that's often sensible
Paying removes the pressure points — arrears correspondence, administration fees, lender anxiety — while the substantive argument proceeds at its own pace. What you give up is temporary use of the money. If your instinct is to withhold instead, that has its own lawful routes and its own risks; see can I refuse to pay?. For most people with a deadline already passed, pay-and-challenge is simply the cleaner sequence.
The practical route after payment
- Gather the evidence. The demand, your lease, and the accounts behind the charge — a written summary of costs is your statutory right (s.21 of the 1985 Act), and you can inspect the underlying invoices and receipts for free (s.22).
- Identify the grounds. Reasonableness (s.19), the 18-month time bar (s.20B), consultation failures on major works (s.20), items with no lease authority, apportionment arithmetic. The same grounds apply whether or not you have paid.
- Apply if the numbers justify it. The tribunal application is Form Leasehold 3; from 13 July 2026 the fees are £114 to apply and £227 if it reaches a hearing. Pair it with the two standard costs-protection applications (s.20C of the 1985 Act and paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 to the CLRA 2002) so the landlord's legal costs can't route back to you.
The honest caveat on old years
Section 27A carries no fixed time limit, but the limitation position for older years is unsettled and tribunals weigh conduct. A challenge to last year's demand is strong territory; a challenge reaching back many years invites arguments you don't need. Recent, documented, specific — that is the shape of a good after-payment challenge.
Find out if your paid demand had grounds — £149 fixedEvery line against your lease and the statute within 48 hours · £100 back if we find no grounds