Section 20 process FAQs

Download article Print article
Choose from the index:
What about money I’ve paid into a sinking fund?

Sinking funds act as a savings account for a building for items of large expenditure outside of day-to-day spend (e.g. internal redecoration). If your block has a sinking fund it will often be used to cover the cost of cyclical works.

If the sinking fund is more than the cost of the work, we won’t ask you to pay any more, but we’ll send you a final account so that you know exactly how much of the fund is being used. We will only invoice leaseholders if the amount in the sinking fund isn’t sufficient to cover the costs

Can I nominate a contractor?

You can nominate or suggest a contractor to carry out work that we don’t need to give public notice for. Public notice is needed for contracts where the value involved will be of a level where certain procurement rules apply.

In these cases, we must publish contract opportunities on the Find a Tender service. All contractors proposed by Leaseholders will need to meet the contractor specification set by Jigsaw.

Can work start before the consultation is finished?

No, we will not award a contract or start any work until the consultation has finished.

What if I don’t want the work to be carried out?

Section 20 notices are issued for work to communal areas and therefore, as per the terms of your lease, all leaseholders have to contribute and can’t be excluded.

How do you work out my contribution?

The way we calculate your contribution is set out in the terms of your lease. The most common way is to calculate by dividing the by the number of homes in a building. It might also be based on rateable value, floor area or percentage split.

What happens if you don’t consult me?

If we don’t consult you over any qualifying works, the amount we can charge is capped at £250 for one-off works and £100 for long-term contracts.

There are situations where we might not be able to consult you – mainly where emergency work needs to be carried out immediately. In those instances we will apply to the first-tier tribunal for dispensation.

Download article Print article
Related Articles