leasehold property, Section 20 - what is and emergency

[andye30m3]

I have a flat that I rent out and over the main bedroom is a large flat roof that in the recent weather has started to leak very badly, the freeholds tried a quick temporary type repair to get us through the winter, which if anything seams to have made things worse.

They are acknowledging that it needs doing and that it will cost but themselves seam reluctant to crack on without the section 20 consultations taking place as it could leave them open to issues if at a later date a judge decides that it wasn't an emergency

I contacted the lease advise service who couldn't confirm that water running through the bedroom counted as an emergency, has anyone else ever had similar issues and get the resolved. In my mind I can understand why they consider water ingress as a bit of a grey area as to whether it's an emergency.

Also if my tenant moves out because of this and the flat is not habitable whilst the section 20 consultation goes on is there any justification to making any sort of claim off of the freeholder?

also has anyone every applied for a dispensation from section 20? any idea on time scales?

[Johnniem]

It is for the managing agent to decide if it is an emergency and it sounds very much like it is but if they can get all long leasehold tenants to agree to progress the works immediately then that is a good way forward. How easy it is will depend on how many flats there are and how easy it is to get hold of the tenants.

I wish you luck with it. So long as the managing agent does the correct thing then I suspect that there is little you can do about it. Do you have an insurance which you can claim on?

JM

[andye30m3]

Thank for the reply.

I think they're accepting its and emergency but very reluctant to commit to the works for fear of leaving themselves open to any come back. There's 5 flats, 3 will be fine, not too sure about the others, could go either way.

I don't think I have any insurance cover, not the end of the world as I would use the time to do a load of other works which could really do with being done as the leaking is isolated to one room. May speak to the tenant and offer to reduce rent inline with a 1 bed flat as his flat mate has recently moved out it might be a short term answer to the problem that's fair to all.

Edited by andye30m3 on Tuesday 5th February 11:39

[Wings]

Section 20 applies where the repair costs are more than £250 per leasehold flat. From your opening post the repair falls under an "emergency" repair, and in that situation the repair should start immediately, with at the same time either the Freeholder or if in place a Management Agent, should apply for dispensation from the First Tier Tribunal. The application to the FTF takes approximately 6-8 weeks.

Nothing stops either you or the other leaseholders speeding up the process by obtaining reputable trades persons quotes for the repair.

[superlightr]

Wings said:

Section 20 applies where the repair costs are more than £250 per leasehold flat. From your opening post the repair falls under an "emergency" repair, and in that situation the repair should start immediately, with at the same time either the Freeholder or if in place a Management Agent, should apply for dispensation from the First Tier Tribunal. The application to the FTF takes approximately 6-8 weeks.

Nothing stops either you or the other leaseholders speeding up the process by obtaining reputable trades persons quotes for the repair.

As Wings said.

The only caveat I would add is how much money does the maintenance fund have?

Do the leaseholders have a share in the freehold company or is it separate?

If there is no money then the work isn't going to happen. The Man co will either need to bill each flat the cost and then do the work or take out a loan. A loan is unlikely for such low number of flats as the income isn't there.

We used to look after blocks of flats 60 x 2 blocks 130 over 4 blocks etc and smaller ones. We made sure there was enough to cover emergencies and built up reserves. The leaseholders also owned a share in the freehold company. Insurance is unlikely to cover it as it sounds like maintenance issue.

A professional managing agent fees would be too expensive for just such a low number in most cases - When you have a very low number of flats they are often badly managed and have no funds - thus they lurch from disaster to disaster. The rules and regs are complex for flat/block management. We would turn away some flats as they have no funds, no real appetite to increase payments to a realistic level etc.


We were proud that we never had to surcharge anyone for big expenditure ie many hundreds of thousands as we planned and built up reserves over years for say new roofs or windows etc. Its a specialist job. ps we no longer do it as its a feking royal PIA and the risk/reward is not there and I hated all AGMs

Edited by superlightr on Tuesday 5th February 16:32

[andye30m3]

Thanks for the reply.

We own share of freehold and self manage, two guys take it on on our behalf.

We have the money in an account and make monthly payments into a fund.

4 of the 5 owners met last night and all were in agreement that it needing sorting, only one who didn't make it was an elderly lady who can be awkward.

It looks like we're going to be able to do a temporary fix in under the section 20 amount and then serve a section 20 to cover more extensive works to all of the roof's on the building, which we'll phase over a period of time.