Thread by @nearlylegal

There’s been a lot of confusions about section 20 notices, what they are for and what they mean over the last few days. So, a thumbnail primer. There are basically two kinds of section 20 consultation (actual more like four or five, but two main types).
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i) Where works are to be carried out to a building and the cost per leaseholder will exceed £250 per leaseholder; and
ii) Where a ‘long term qualifying agreement’ (ie a contract for longer than 12 months) is to be entered into with a contractor, or, say, a managing agent.
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The first is one the one that everyone thinks of - ‘oh, a s.20 notice. It will be about works I will be charged for’. But the second is not uncommon, particularly with social landlords with multiple blocks/estates. (The idea is economies of scale. Actuality often different).
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Now the first type will only be sent to leaseholders who are specifically affected by works (so, usually just a block. Sometimes an estate). But the second type - known as QLTA - could be to all leaseholders under that landlord, across many buildings or many estates.
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And a QLTA s.20 notice is not about proposed works, it is about the proposed contract with a contractor to do specified types of work, if, as and when it comes up during the contract period. So the notice will specify the range of works that would fall under the QLTA, but -
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That does not mean that those works will be carried out, or are proposed to be carried out, or apply to all the buildings/estates involved. It is the types of work that would fall under the QLTA, not a statement that they will happen to every block (or indeed any block)
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I’m not going into the process for each - they are different - and consultation on works is different if there is a QLTA in place for those works. But these are the basic two types of s.20 consultation.
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And a QLTA consultation across many blocks mentioning fire safety works/remediation does not mean that a) such works are intended or will happen to a specific block, or b) that charges for any such remediation work will necessarily be levied on leaseholders…
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(It doesn’t mean that any such charges won’t be levied on leaseholders either. But as a QLTA s.20 across a number of blocks/estates is neither a demand, nor a statement that such works are intended to be carried out, it implies nothing for any particular block.)
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10/9 - it should be acknowledged that once a QLTA is in place, leaseholders’ ability to challenge costings in a subsequent s.20 on works is reduced, and leaseholders have no ability to propose another contractor from whom a tender should be sought in that consultation.