Leaseholders are under the cosh again after a decision by the Court of Appeal this summer.

Many are now unable to challenge the amounts their freeholders expect them to pay.

When a new system of resolving leasehold disputes was introduced in the Nineties, it was hailed as a ready-made way of making life easier for leaseholders.

Leasehold valuation tribunals offered the chance to bypass the anxiety and the expense of taking a freeholder to the courts if there was a question mark on service charges.

But the Court of Appeal has thrown the system into chaos and taken leaseholders back to the bad old days when there was no easy way to challenge what they were being asked to pay.

London-based Daejan Properties argued the capital's tribunal was wrong to order it to pay back service charges which had already been paid.

The High Court backed the tribunal but Daejan went to the Court of Appeal where judges ruled leaseholders could only go a tribunal over unreasonable service charges if the money had not been paid.

It leaves leaseholders having to pay and risk not getting their money back, or not pay and risk being taken to the county court for non-payment.

The tribunal system has never been perfect, according to Shula Rich, of the Brighton, Hove and District Leaseholders' Association, but it did equalise the balance between leaseholders and freeholders.

The Daejan ruling means that balance has now tilted back towards freeholders, who once again enjoy some of the advantages they had before the tribunal system was set up.

That might not matter if all freeholders and their managing agents acted fairly, something from bitter experience Ms Rich knows is not the case.

She said: "Unfortunately some freeholders and many managing agents are not well-intentioned and don't conduct their business fairly.

"If people are feeling at all nervous about going to a tribunal or they are getting nasty letters from their landlord, they will pay up. Then they can't claim it back.

"If you are good at sending threatening letters, then the law is now on your side."

This is bad news for the estimated 25,000 leaseholders who live in Brighton and Hove, a total higher than anywhere else in the UK outside London.

The antiquated leasehold system gives freeholders, who own the land, powers and privileges over leaseholders, who own the flats they have bought but not the land the buildings are on.

Not all freeholders take advantage of the system but some do, leaving leaseholders having to pay bills for ground rent that are too high or being charged too much for repairs.

Sometimes there are scams, when leaseholders are faced with huge bills for work which could have been done for less, or the freeholder refuses to itemise.

The tribunal system allowed leaseholders to question the scale of service charges, either by paying and then claiming it back or not paying and using the same body to arbitrate.

Leaseholders who pay and subsequently challenge the bill are now unlikely to see their money again. The only safe course of action, according to many, is not to pay at all.

Hove leaseholder Brian Alford said the judgement meant nobody should pay service charges if they felt there was any likelihood of a dispute.

He said: "If they think it is in any way dicey or in any way disputed they are very much at a disadvantage."

He is not paying service charges to his freeholder because of an on-going dispute over repairing the central heating in the block where he lives.

He said: "Because we are in a dispute with our landlord, it would be madness to pay any money because you can't go to a tribunal and dispute it."

Anthony Essien, of the national advisory service Lease, agreed leaseholders such as Mr Alford were unlikely to see their money again if they paid but warned not paying was risky.

He said: "They run the risk in withholding a charge of the landlord reacting quicker and applying to the county court before they can go to a tribunal.

"Why should you be in a bad position because you were not aware of your rights at the time?"

Groups such as Lease are lobbying to have powers passed back to tribunals, something that might happen if the Government's Leasehold Reform Bill becomes law.

Most laws involving leaseholding are likely to be shaken up by the Bill, which is expected to start its passage through Parliament this autumn.

Challenging service charges and similar fees should be made easier if the act is as tough as reformers hope.

Kemp Town MP Des Turner said the situation with tribunals and service charges was an oddity, which should be ended by the Bill.

He said: "I hope the Leasehold Reform Bill addresses that point and makes sure that anomaly is closed off.

"If it does not, we will have to take steps to get an amendment to make sure it does."