Section 20 Notice – Carrying out Major Works

If you are the landlord of a block of flats that requires major works you must notify the leaseholders of your intentions before you commence works. Major works are defined as works costing more than £250.00 per leaseholder.

Detailed regulations have been produced under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (as amended by S151 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002) which set out the precise procedures landlords must follow.

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Following The Correct Procedure

It is vital that a landlord follows the procedure very carefully as failure to do so can result in the landlord ending up paying for all of the works with the lessees only liable to pay £100.00 each.

A landlord has to serve notices on the leaseholders at the following three stages in the process of awarding a contract to the party that will carry out the works to the building. these are as follows:

  1. pre-tender stage. Notice of intention
  2. The tender stage. notification of the landlord’s proposal (estimates for works).
  3. In some cases, you may need to give notice of reasons for awarding the contract.

Leaseholders Have 30 Days To Respond To Each Notice

section-20-notices-building-worksThe landlord will be required to specify a place and hours at which documents and estimates can be viewed. This must be carried out free of charge and where possible copies of documents provided to leaseholders which can if necessary be recovered through the service charge.

There are more regulations that should be read before a landlord should commence with major works. We have included a link to the Leasehold Advisory Service that covers this subject in much more detail.

Leasehold Advisory Service

If you are a leaseholder and need help with ection 20 notices you can visit the Leasehold Advisory Service who are a government funded organisation.