A Section 20 notice lands on the mat and the reaction is almost always the same: what is this, and how much is it going to cost me? The honest answer to the second question is that nobody knows yet, including the freeholder. The first question has a proper answer, and it is worth understanding, because Section 20 is one of the few parts of leasehold law that exists specifically to protect you.
What Section 20 is
Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires a landlord to consult leaseholders before carrying out qualifying works where the contribution from any one leaseholder would exceed £250. That £250 figure is the well-known threshold, and it is per leaseholder, not per building and not per flat's share of the whole.
The consequence of not consulting properly is that the landlord's ability to recover the cost through the service charge can be limited to that threshold, unless a tribunal grants dispensation. That is the teeth in the provision. It is why freeholders and managing agents take the procedure seriously even when it is inconvenient.
Note what Section 20 does not do. It does not give leaseholders a veto. It does not let you choose the contractor. It does not mean the works have to be cheap. It is a consultation right — the right to be told, to see estimates, to make observations, and to have those observations taken into account. That is a real right, but it is narrower than most people assume when they first read the notice.
How consultation runs, in general terms
The statutory procedure runs in stages. Broadly, leaseholders are notified of the intention to carry out works and invited to make observations and to nominate a contractor; estimates are then obtained and made available for inspection, with a further opportunity to comment; and leaseholders are told about the decision. There are prescribed periods for responses and prescribed requirements for what each notice must contain.
We are deliberately describing this qualitatively. The exact procedure differs depending on the type of works and whether a long-term agreement or a public-notice contract is involved, and the requirements are prescribed in regulations. If the amount at stake matters to you — and for major works in a Central London block it usually does — read the statutory procedure itself or take advice from a solicitor or a leasehold advisory body. Do not rely on a builder's summary, including this one.
What "major works" actually means in this stock
In Central London blocks, major works are usually one of a short list: external redecoration and repair, roof works, window replacement or overhaul, lift replacement, communal heating or electrical infrastructure, and structural repairs. In mansion blocks around St John's Wood, Maida Vale and Little Venice, external cyclical works come round on a rhythm, usually driven by the lease and by the state of the render and the joinery.
The reason the numbers are large in this borough is not mystery or malice. It is the buildings. Scaffolding a tall Victorian or Edwardian block on a narrow street with red routes, loading restrictions and no lay-down space is genuinely expensive before a single window is touched. If the building is listed or in a conservation area, the specification is constrained — materials, profiles and finishes may all be dictated by heritage considerations rather than by cost, and consents may be required. Our guides to conservation area rules and listed building consent explain that side.
Reading the notice properly
When a notice arrives, the useful questions are narrow and factual:
- What exactly is in scope? "External repairs and redecoration" is a heading, not a specification. Ask for the specification or the surveyor's schedule.
- Who wrote the specification? Usually a surveyor engaged by the freeholder. Their fees are typically part of the cost.
- What is your percentage? Your lease sets your share. Check it against the notice rather than assuming.
- What is the timing of demands? Whether costs are demanded in advance, in stages, or on completion depends on the lease and on any reserve fund.
- Is there a reserve fund, and is it being used? Many blocks have been collecting for exactly this.
- What is the contingency? On old buildings, opening up finds things. A specification with no contingency is a specification that will produce variations later.
If something looks wrong, say so in writing within the response period, specifically and factually. Observations that engage with the specification carry weight. Observations that express general unhappiness do not.
Nominating a contractor
Leaseholders are generally entitled to nominate a contractor to be invited to tender. This is the most under-used right in the whole procedure. It is also frequently misunderstood: nominating does not mean the contractor gets the job. It means they get asked to price, on the same specification, so that their number sits alongside the others.
For it to be worth anything the nominee has to be capable of the actual work. Nominating a small firm for a scaffolded roof programme on a listed block helps nobody. Nominating a competent, appropriately insured firm with relevant experience puts genuine price tension into the tender, which is the entire point.
Where leaseholders and their own contractors overlap
Major works are the freeholder's project. Your flat is yours. Confusion between the two is where money leaks.
Two practical points. First, if the block is being scaffolded, that is the cheapest access to your own windows and external elements that you will ever have. Leaseholders who plan their own works to coincide with the block's scaffold can save real money — but you must ask permission to use the scaffold, and the answer is not automatic. Ask the managing agent early, in writing.
Second, works to the building can uncover works to your flat. Roof repairs reveal damaged ceilings. Window replacement disturbs internal reveals and decorations. Establish before it starts what the contract includes internally — often it is much less than leaseholders expect. Making good internally after a communal programme is frequently the leaseholder's own job, and it is worth having a refurbishment or maintenance contractor lined up rather than negotiating with the block's contractor from a position of weakness.
Your own works are a different consent question entirely
Section 20 is about the freeholder consulting you. It has nothing to do with you altering your own flat. That is governed by your lease and typically requires the freeholder's consent, often formalised as a licence to alter — see licence to alter in a mansion block and, for the most common case, freeholder consent for a bathroom refurbishment. Works affecting a shared wall or structure may also engage the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 — see party wall agreements for flat refurbishment.
These are separate processes with separate timelines, and the fact that the block is having major works done does not grant you anything in respect of your own.
Who holds the freehold, and why it varies
Many freeholds across Mayfair, Marylebone, Fitzrovia and the Bayswater and Paddington streets sit with large long-established estates; others sit with resident-owned companies, with investors, or with a freeholder who bought the reversion decades ago. Their approaches to consultation, specification and contractor selection vary enormously, and so do the standards they specify. Do not assume that what happened in your friend's block will happen in yours. Your lease and your freeholder's practice are the only reliable guide, and your managing agent should be able to explain both.
Timing, and why notices arrive when they do
Consultation takes months rather than weeks, and it usually starts long before you hear about scaffolding. That gap is not the freeholder being slow; it is the procedure doing its job — specification, notices, response periods, tendering, then a decision. It is also why the estimates you eventually see may be older than you expect, and why contingency and inflation provisions appear in the numbers.
The practical implication for leaseholders is straightforward. If you are planning to sell, refinance, or start your own works, ask the managing agent early whether a Section 20 process is anticipated. A pending major works programme is something buyers and their solicitors will ask about, and finding out from an enquiry reply is worse than finding out from the agent.
If you think the cost is unreasonable
Service charge costs must generally be reasonably incurred and the works of a reasonable standard. There are routes to challenge, including the tribunal, and there are free advisory bodies for leaseholders. That is a legal matter and this is not the page for it — take proper advice rather than acting on a contractor's website.
What we would say practically: challenge the specification early, during consultation, when it can still change. Challenging the bill afterwards is slower, harder and more expensive than making a precise, evidenced observation at the right moment.
Where we fit
We do not run block major works programmes. What we do is the leaseholder's side: the work inside your flat, before or after the block's programme, priced with a fixed quote and set prices — including bathrooms, plumbing, electrical and general refurbishment. If a block's works have left you with making good to sort out, send us photos through the quote form or on WhatsApp and we will price it.
This page is general practical guidance and is not legal advice. Consultation requirements are prescribed in regulations that change; confirm the current procedure and your own lease position before relying on anything here.