section 20

follyfoot

this is one of the disadvantages to buying local authority properties. but i recently got a section 20 asking for over £4000 for UPVC installation, concrete and brickwork repair and external painting. not sure why i am being charged for UPVC since the council did not put double glazing in my flat. also dont know what brick and concrete repair they are referring to. also the external paintwork is very poor. am i expected to pay for all this? doesnt council have to give an estimate of costs before starting works? the work was done about 2 years ago.

sophistica

I am a recent expert on Section 20 because we have problems in our block. You only need to pay what is in your lease and you only need to pay according to the schedule in the lease. A Section 20 is a two stage consultation document in which the landlord explain the work and invites comments and suggestions for contractors and gives you 31 days to respond. Then he gets in estimates, evaluates them and chooses one and invites you to view the estimates. There is a govt dept. called LEASE which as a web site which explains all this.

follyfoot

i was never invited to view the estimate because they started the work before the gave me the estimate

sophistica

Ah VERY GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!!! If they start work before they do the full consultation process you only have to pay £250 in total - that's the law. you need to read this site very carefully http://www.lease-advice.org.uk Make sure that the Section 20 consultation did not take place before you bought. BTW they don't need to give you the estimates - they need to make the estimates available for you to view.

clutton_2

i also was in this situation, and ended up only having to pay £250 !! however, depending on how many years it is since you bought the ex LA property, your solicitor should have cleared all this up during the conveyancing. I got a statement as to how much the vendor owed to the LA maintainance fund, and he had to pay for it all before i exchanged/completed.

Local authorities sometimes have "committees" or "residents groups" who meet with the right-to-buy council staff on a regular basis to iron out problems such as this - do get in touch with them.

follyfoot

i queried my lease before buying the property and i was told that "the estimated unit cost is £4000". Under Work Description of the invoice they sent me they have included UPVC windows. i'm not sure if they are asking me to contribute to UPVC windows put in my flat or whether that is my contribution for the whole block. however, i did replace my windows at my own expense a year before they started any work. can they double charge me?

clutton_2

follyfoot - i guess it depends on what is in your lease, as to which parts of the property you are responsible for and which parts the LA is responsible for

follyfoot

sophistica wrote:

Ah VERY GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!!! If they start work before they do the full consultation process you only have to pay £250 in total - that's the law. you need to read this site very carefully http://www.lease-advice.org.uk Make sure that the Section 20 consultation did not take place before you bought. BTW they don't need to give you the estimates - they need to make the estimates available for you to view.

I have sent info to Lease advice people. I am surprised that councils have the right to request a large sum of money for doing nothing to my property. I was given permission to replace my windows. the council said i should pay a portion of the communal costs. i did not know that windows in individual flats count as communal. i spoke to my neighbour who did have his windows installed by the council and he says they asked him for £4000. another neighbour has been billed for £6000 and another neighbour sold his flat and cannot be traced. I would not mind paying £4000 if they council had installed my windows.