Emailed our managing agent last week asking to see the service charge accounts and a breakdown of last year’s costs. Got a reply saying they can provide copies for a £35 admin fee. Not sure why i should be paying to see where my own money went. The lease says the landlord shall make accounts available for inspection but doesn’t mention a charge. Is this standard or are they having a laugh?
@Isitjustme88 no, don’t pay it. Under section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 you have the right to inspect the accounts and supporting documents, and to take copies or extracts. The landlord (or their agent) has to make them available within 21 days of a written request, and they can charge a “reasonable fee” for copies but NOT for simply letting you inspect them. £35 to look at your own service charge accounts is them trying it on.
I’d email back quoting s21 and say you’re requesting inspection, not copies, and that you’ll take your own photos of the paperwork if needed. If they still push back you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal, though honestly just mentioning the Act usually makes them fold… i had almost exactly this with my freeholder’s agent a few weeks after i moved in, they went very quiet once i quoted the section number 
@Jooleew cheers for that, good to know it’s actually in the legislation. So should i go back to the managing agent quoting the section 21 bit and tell them to drop the fee, or is it worth going over their heads direct to the freeholder? Not sure who actually holds the accounts in practice. The managing agent seems to act like they own the building.
@Isitjustme88 yes, go back in writing, email is fine. Keep it short, something like “Under section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 I am entitled to inspect the accounts and obtain copies at reasonable cost. Please confirm when I can collect these or have them sent to me.” Don’t argue with them about it or get into a back and forth about what the fee covers, just state it and wait.
In my experience most managing agents will quietly drop the charge once they realise the leaseholder actually knows the law exists. They’re banking on people not looking it up. If they push back or go silent for more than a week, write to the freeholder directly and copy the agent in… that usually gets things moving
Quick update. Sent the email quoting section 21 on Wednesday, got a reply Thursday morning saying they would waive the fee “as a goodwill gesture.” Sure. Now they’re saying the documents will take 7 to 10 working days to prepare. Is that normal or are they just dragging their feet? Feel like every interaction with this lot is a battle.
@Isitjustme88 two weeks is them testing you. They’re hoping you’ll forget or give up, it’s the oldest trick in the managing agent playbook Chase them again in a week and if they still haven’t produced the documents, write to the freeholder directly and copy the agent in. That usually speeds things up.