Professional Advice

摘要

Probably not. Where a lease of commercial or residential premises includes a list of items that a tenant has covenanted to pay, and that list makes no reference to the landlord being able to charge a management fee, then it is unlikely that the tenant would have to pay those fees.This is because of a principle known as the 'expressio unius est exclusio alterius' rule. The rule asserts that, where there is a general assumption that if the parties had determined a comprehensive list of the items that would be in the service charge, then it will be assumed that those items not coming within that list of items were determined to be excluded.If, on the other hand, there are no items listed on the lease, then it may be possible for the landlord to rely on a statutory definition of service charges for residential leases - which are sometimes used for commercial leases -with a minor amendment.