Section 20 Toolkit

Summary

Recover all of your local authorities' landlord expenses easily using our toolkit.

As a landlord of sold or rented dwellings, you must properly manage and maintain their common elements and recharge tenants and leaseholders any maintenance and management expenses you incur.

Out toolkit cuts through the complexities and legislative requirements of administering, calculating and notifying costs to your leaseholders (even for emergency repairs and works) to ensure that you recover all the expenses you are legally due.

Format

Excel

Published

Author

CIPFA

£995.00

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Every year, local authorities lose millions in unclaimed expenses – last year one London council alone wrote off more than £6million because they failed to consult properly on Section 20 works. And in these times of budget cuts and austerity you can’t afford to lose a penny you are owed. Order your copy of the toolkit and we’ll help make sure you consult properly.

What are your legal obligations?

According to section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Acts of 1985:

  • you can only charge for actual expenses that have been reasonably incurred in management and maintenance
  • works must be of a reasonable standard
  • you must consult your leaseholders before undertaking any works costing more than £250 per lessee within 18 months of them starting
  • you must issue your lessees with an annual service charge bill or a formal notification of expenses incurred within six months of the end of the financial year
  • if your bill or notification is issued after this time, you may only recover costs from the previous 18 months.

How can the toolkit help?

The toolkit will:

  • simplify the administering, calculating and notifying of costs to lessees
  • minimise the risks associated with under-recovery and the resulting write-off of costs within your authority
  • help to reduce challenge and over-charging.

*Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Acts of 1985.

  • provide an open and transparent position for the leaseholder in relation to service charge costs
  • provide you with a solid structure for meeting all of your legislative requirements.

Consultancy assistance

To help you further, we have a team of experts available to consult with you on implementing and reviewing the charging of leaseholders for major works.

Webchat is available Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00 (excluding UK bank holidays).