Service Charge Lease Considerations - The lease contains the legal provisions that require the landlord to provide services and the tenant to pay for them.

The precise wording of a lease must be considered carefully in order to determine the landlord and tenant's respective liabilities. The landlord's covenants will describe his obligation to provide services as well as repair, renew etc, those parts of the property for which he is responsible. The services are often defined in a schedule together with payment provision and the requirement for certifying or auditing the service charge accounts.

Commercial leases may include a service charge "sweeper clause", intended to allow the landlord to recover incidental costs. The Courts tend to view such clauses narrowly in terms of recovery thereby preventing landlords introducing additional services without limitation.

The service charge certificate is often said to be final and binding or conclusive subject only to manifest error. However, lease clauses may require the costs and/or apportionment to be properly or reasonably determined.

There are a number of legal cases that relate to service charges although far fewer than residential property case law. Nonetheless many of the common principles established can be applied to commercial property. See legal cases for landmark case references.