Big bills for major works should never land out of the blue. The law gives leaseholders a formal right to be consulted first. Here is how Section 20 works, and why it matters.
A new roof, a lift replacement, external redecoration across the whole building: major works like these are a normal part of owning a flat. They are also expensive, and it is leaseholders who ultimately pay for them through the service charge.
Which is why, before that money is spent, the law gives you a formal say. That safeguard is called Section 20. If you have ever received an official-looking letter about proposed works, or wondered whether an agent can simply commission a big job and send you the bill afterwards, it is the piece of law worth understanding.
What Section 20 is, and when it applies
Section 20 sits within the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It requires a landlord, freeholder or managing agent to consult leaseholders before carrying out major works, or signing up to certain long-term contracts, that will cost individual leaseholders above a set amount. It is not a matter of good manners. It is a legal duty, and skipping it has real financial consequences for the landlord rather than for you.
Two things bring it into play. The first is major works where any single leaseholder would have to contribute more than £250. The second is a longterm agreement, meaning a contract running longer than twelve months, such as lift maintenance or communal cleaning, where any single leaseholder would pay more than £100 a year.
Those figures are deliberately low, so in practice most works of any real size will require consultation. It is worth knowing that the £250 and £100 thresholds have stood since 2003 and are widely seen as out of date, so they are likely to be revisited as part of the current leasehold reforms. For now, though, they are the numbers that apply.
The consultation, and your rights within it
For major works, the process usually runs in two stages, each giving leaseholders at least thirty days to respond. It begins with a Notice of Intention, which sets out what is proposed and why, and invites your comments. At this stage you can also put forward a contractor of your own for the landlord to approach for a quote.
Estimates are then gathered, including from anyone the leaseholders nominated, and shared back in a second notice. You can inspect the figures and comment again before anything is decided. If the landlord goes on to choose neither the cheapest estimate nor a leaseholder’s nominee, they normally have to explain that too.
None of this hands leaseholders a veto. What it gives you is a genuine voice and full sight of how your money is being spent: the right to be told what is planned and why, to see the estimates, to comment within the deadlines, to suggest your own contractor, and to have your views properly taken into account.
What happens if the process is skipped
This is where Section 20 has teeth. If a landlord fails to consult when they should have, the amount they can recover from each leaseholder is capped at £250 for works, or £100 for a long-term agreement, no matter how large the actual bill turns out to be. The rest simply cannot be passed on.
There is a release valve. A landlord can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for dispensation, typically in a genuine emergency where waiting would cause harm. But they have to justify it, and the tribunal may attach conditions. Dispensation is the exception, not a way around the rules.
The short version: for anything beyond a modest repair, a managing agent cannot simply commission the work and invoice you afterwards. If they try, the law limits what you can be made to pay.
Handled well, major works rarely feel like an ambush. They are planned long before they become urgent, spread over time through a healthy reserve fund, tendered competitively, and explained to residents at each step. When a building instead lurches from one surprise bill to the next, that usually says more about how it is run than about the works themselves.
Chelton Brown has looked after property in Northamptonshire since 1975, and we manage major works from first plan to final sign-off, consultation included. If your current agent handles big projects poorly, we are always happy to take a look.
Major works on the horizon?
Talk to our block and estate management team about running works and consultation properly.
Or find out more at cheltonbrown.co.uk/block-and-estate-management
