Accounts and supporting information
How do I get the service-charge accounts?
Check what your lease promises, request a summary of costs and inspect the supporting records. Each route has its own timetable.
View the supporting illustration
Start here
Find the route that fits the gap.
What does the lease require?
The lease may require an annual statement, certificate or audit and may set its own timing. Start there rather than assuming every building follows the same six-month rule.
Do you need a statutory summary?
Section 21 provides a written request route for a summary of relevant costs. The current timetable is one month after the request or six months after the accounting period ends, whichever is later.
Do you need the underlying papers?
After receiving a qualifying summary, make a written section 22 request within six months. The landlord must provide a two-month inspection period starting no later than one month after your request. Inspection is free; a reasonable charge may be made for copies.
What the summary tells you
Certification is different from a full audit.
Where the relevant costs are payable by tenants of more than four dwellings, the section 21 summary generally needs certification by a qualified accountant. A local authority landlord can use a suitably qualified officer. This statutory certification is not the same as a full audit, and your lease may require additional accounts or checks.
The Leasehold Advisory Service explains the request routes and provides template letters ↗.
Work through it
Turn a vague accounts query into a useful one.
- 01
Name the period
Record the accounting year, the demand dates and the date the relevant cost appears to have been incurred.
- 02
Quote the lease
Identify the clause that requires the statement, certificate, audit or supporting material and the person who must provide it.
- 03
Choose the request
State whether you want the annual document required by your lease, a section 21 summary of relevant costs, or section 22 access to the records behind a summary. Keep the request and proof of receipt.
- 04
Keep timing separate
A missing annual statement, a section 21 deadline and section 20B's 18-month limit are different tests with different consequences.
Take the next step in LEASE-iQ®
What does the lease require before this payment is due?
Use this for a demand, balancing charge, annual accounts or missing supporting papers.
Copy questions for this issue
Keep checking: Use the demand checker for the papers in front of you. Use LEASE-iQ to establish the lease route behind them.
Open the sources
Use the request that fits the missing information.
The information-request rights described here apply in England and Wales to residential In plain EnglishA payment under a lease for specified services, works, insurance or management costs. Authority, procedure, evidence and reasonableness are separate checks.Open the statutory definition. Company accounts, charity accounts, public-sector requirements and the lease may create separate duties.
Current in-force written-request route and timetable
↗LegislationLandlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 22Inspection of accounts, receipts and other documents
↗LegislationLandlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20BTime limit for relevant costs and written notification exception
↗Independent guidanceLeasehold Advisory ServiceCurrent independent guide to information rights
↗Government updateGovernment consultation response, July 2026Future standardised service-charge information measures still require implementation
↗Prepared by Adam Street, founder of building trust. Sources and current-law status checked 9 October 2026. Legislation links are the controlling sources. Guidance helps explain the route but does not replace the statute or the lease.
