An accountant will not ordinarily be sitting on the panel of 2 or 3 members that make up the tribunal, this means that any accounts that an errant landlord produces to the leaseholders and/or the tribunal will have to be scrutinised by any leaseholders attending the tribunal either as applicant or respondent. Construction project accounts can be daunting to some people, but no matter how complex the accounts are it still boils down to simple arithmetic.
There are issues regarding confidentiality of the accounts that landlords often claim is the reason they won't produce any documents to back up the accounts. This is especially so for Local authorities carrying out large scale projects and using the very few large companies that are able to meet the huge demands of the contracts Local Authorities can offer.
This leaves leaseholders in a bit of a quandary ? do they pay for a Surveyor who could possibly also do much of the work that an Auditor could, but who does not have the power to demand documentary proof that an auditor does, or do they pay for an Auditor that can check the figures and demand the landlord shows them the proof of expenditure, but may not be conversant with the exact cost of specific construction items.
Or do leaseholders instruct both a surveyor an an Auditor to work together ? all leaseholders will need to throughly read this page from the LVT leasehold valuation tribunal official website and think about it very hard, because if leaseholders decide that the leasehold accounts produced by an unreasonable landlord are so grossly inaccurate that an Auditor is needed. Then they need to discuss it at great length amongst themselves, because a single leaseholder can instruct a surveyor or an accountant to be expert witnesses on their behalf. But only if a certain amount of leaseholders join together can they Instruct an AUDITOR that then has the power to receive from the landlord all documentary proof upon which to make their report to the leaseholders and/or the leasehold valuation tribunal. However they may be required not to divulge the documents to the leaseholders to maintain the landlords confidentiality with any suppliers and businesses. This may in some circumstances be a better option when dealing with landlords and local authorities that are being difficult, obstructive and generally evasive. leaseholders will need to discuss this option with their legal representatives should they have them, the decision on which route to take may not alway be straightforward . In all cases where there is more than two leasehold dwellings in one property as defined by the lease, two thirds of the leaseholders must agree to instruct an Auditor before legal action can be taken.
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