ABSTRACT
Historically, and especially before the advent of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in the service charge context, the only alternative to court proceedings was arbitration when it came to disputes between landlords and leaseholders. Even then, the possibility of arbitration only arose realistically when the lease contained a clause providing for disputes to be referred to arbitration. The objective of an agreement to refer a dispute to arbitration is to achieve a resolution of the dispute by an impartial forum with relative informality and as little inconvenience and expense as possible. Most arbitration clauses in residential leases provide for the parties to agree the appointment of the arbitrator or, in default, to apply to the President of the Law Society or Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to nominate a suitable person. Some leases contain provisions to resolve disputes between leaseholders by way of an arbitration process.
