cost of renovations to leasehold flat going up after estimate?

Leaseholder49

My freeholder is replacing the roof on our building (2 flats). They have given us the estimated costs, now they have put up scaffolding. So far it has been up for 2 weeks and no work has been done at all. I am worried they are going to be charging me for all the time the scaffolding is up and it will end up costing loads more than the estimate?

Is there anything I can do about this?

Thanks.

starving_artist

Check if your lease states you must contribute to repairs/maintenance of the roof.

If your share amounts to more than £250 the freeholder is obliged to carry out a consultation which means informing you what the works cover and inviting you to nominate a contractor and allowing you to comment on the plans. It's all here on the leasehold advisory service's website.

G_M

Any sensible freeholder will have had a quotation for the work from the builder, not an estimate. A quote cannot change. If the builder takes longer to do the job the price is the same.

An estimate is, by definition, not fixed. Getting works done on the basis of an estimate is always risky!

Either way, the artist above is right.

Leaseholder49

The consultation was all done by the book (but there is no option to nominate contractors as it is a council freeholder and they have a long term agreement in place). I am not taking issue with the work needing doing or me needing to pay for it.

"Any sensible freeholder will have had a quotation for the work from the builder, not an estimate. A quote cannot change. If the builder takes longer to do the job the price is the same.

An estimate is, by definition, not fixed. Getting works done on the basis of an estimate is always risky!"

Don't understand where this leaves me? Freeholder is not obliged to give a fixed quote for the works, they just have to provide an estimate. Leaseholder has to pay it so there is no risk to freeholder as they just pass on the whatever the actual cost is to leaseholder.

Or am I missing something?

scooter_chick

I think that if the costs are going to be higher than the original Section 20 notice then they have to reissue it. I think it's something like 5% higher. So you should be able to relax a bit - they can't issue you a Section 20 for one amount and then randomly actually charge you another one.

Leaseholder49

thanks for that - would be good if that's def the case. can't find anything about that kind of thing on the lease website. don't suppose you know if that's written down anywhere?

wonder why they put an estimate on the first letter then, why don't they just say what it's going to be +/- X%?

scooter_chick

I think that I've read that on the mounds of paperwork that came with a Section 20 on some work that's happening on my leasehold property (again ex Local Authority).

I think the 'estimate' is just the word they use for a Section 20, it doesn't mean they a haven't got a proper price from their contractors.

I'll try to remember to have a look this evening for you.

Fire_Fox

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

My freeholder is replacing the roof on our building (2 flats). They have given us the estimated costs, now they have put up scaffolding. So far it has been up for 2 weeks and no work has been done at all. I am worried they are going to be charging me for all the time the scaffolding is up and it will end up costing loads more than the estimate?

Potentially: all charges must be "reasonably incurred" - if you can demonstrate that it was not essential that the scaffolding was up for two weeks without work commencing then you should have to pay for it/ I would strongly recommend you ask questions before jumping in with both feet, there may be good reason for the hiatus.

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

Don't understand where this leaves me? Freeholder is not obliged to give a fixed quote for the works, they just have to provide an estimate. Leaseholder has to pay it so there is no risk to freeholder as they just pass on the whatever the actual cost is to leaseholder.

Or am I missing something?

The word estimate is certainly used here:
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=20

Leaseholder49

scooter_chick wrote: »

I think that I've read that on the mounds of paperwork that came with a Section 20 on some work that's happening on my leasehold property (again ex Local Authority).

I think the 'estimate' is just the word they use for a Section 20, it doesn't mean they a haven't got a proper price from their contractors.

I'll try to remember to have a look this evening for you.

thanks alot!

Leaseholder49

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I would strongly recommend you ask questions before jumping in with both feet, there may be good reason for the hiatus.


The word estimate is certainly used here:...

yes, maybe i was being a bit harsh in my initial post. I guess I was thinking what should I be doing to record what's going on right now in the event that I am charged a higher amount and need to challenge it. i will give them a call later in the week if there is still no work going on.

i read that bit of the website upside down and inside out when the consultation happened (printed it out and highlighted etc to help me understand it). my situation is Schedule 3. what I can't see on there (and please correct me if I have missed it) is anything that mentions costs after the estimate stage, i.e. what happens if the estimate is way out?