Leaseholders service charges tribunal

It is "adversarial" and some people have failed to take this into account or were not made aware of it, fortunately the barrister who represented myself at the LVT in a case i can't discuss, was quick to point this out to my independent surveyor, and request he rewrite his report with this in mind, emphasizing to the surveyor, that the other side would take advantage of every tiny error no matter that it was obviously a silly typo. He said quite clearly it's only informal in that you don't have to keep standing up and saying yes your honour etc and the only difference as for as he was concerned is he would be wearing civilian clothes and not wearing his wig and robes.

The extracts below from other blogs claiming to come from people who have experienced this adversarial system, seem to bear out the validity of my barristers advice.

Naturally people get frustrated at the long slow legal processes and the constant adversity but you must not let the case become personal, do not produce a witness statement that is excessively long and tedious. Rewrite it so it says the same but in a much smaller document get it down to less than 5 concise pages. The tribunal hasn't the time to read massive amounts  they constantly criticise Leasholders for this. and much of what you want to say is likely to be irrelevant, stick to the basic facts of how you think clauses and covenants in your lease mean you can't be charged, pay particular attention to fully scrutinising any accounts and highlight the mistakes and errors. Point out how the other side has not observed or fulfilled any of the lease covenants. 

"LEAVE THE LAW AND THE LEGALITIES TO YOUR LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES"

To make the same mistake as themselves and there are numerous examples of them bloogging about their experiences in order to forewarn others in the same boat. Just like this blog post from a leaseholder called Marmite lover, see a few extracted highlights below .. and this one you can read here from an outraged leaseholder

For the last 8 years I have been fighting to get my building properly run and maintained. Two years ago, faced with the concurrent problem of subsidence, I decided to follow the advice of LEASE,  -- -- -- ---

We have offered to go to mediation, they have refused.

They have dropped the demand for LVT costs to a third,

my proportion of the service

charges, on the advice of these solicitors.

The advice I have received from my solicitor and other

solicitors is that

my lease does not

allow "in a clear and unambiguous way" as required by law