Section 20 consultation.

In short

A landlord in England must consult leaseholders under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 before carrying out qualifying works that would cost any one leaseholder more than £250, or entering a long-term agreement of more than 12 months that would cost any one leaseholder more than £100 a year. Without consultation, or dispensation from the First-tier Tribunal, the landlord can recover no more than those amounts from each leaseholder.

When is Section 20 consultation needed?

For qualifying works, when the cost to any one leaseholder would exceed £250. The test is on the largest single contribution, not the average or the total. For a qualifying long-term agreement, such as a maintenance contract longer than 12 months, when any one leaseholder would pay more than £100 in a year.

What are the stages for ordinary major works?

Under the usual route, Schedule 4 Part 2 of the 2003 Regulations: a notice of intention, inviting observations and nominations of contractors, with 30 days to respond; then a statement of at least two estimates, at least one from a contractor wholly unconnected with the landlord, again with 30 days for observations; then, if the contract goes to someone other than the lowest estimate or a leaseholder's nominee, a notice of reasons within 21 days of entering into it.

What deadlines does the landlord have to meet?

Each consultation period is 30 days, and nothing may be decided before it closes. The landlord must have regard to the observations received. Where a notice of reasons is needed it is due within 21 days of entering into the contract, and it must summarise the observations on the estimates and set out the landlord's response.

What happens if consultation is not done properly?

Recovery is capped at £250 per leaseholder for the works, or £100 a year for an agreement, however much the work cost, unless the landlord obtains dispensation from the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) under section 20ZA. Since the Supreme Court's decision in Daejan v Benson in 2013, the tribunal's focus is on whether the leaseholders were prejudiced by the failure.

What should the consultation file contain?

Every notice as served, the list of who it was served on and when, every observation and nomination with the response, the estimates and the statement, and the notice of reasons. It is the evidence for a challenge, a buyer's solicitor and any dispensation application.

Where Servanda comes in

Servanda runs a consultation as a module: the threshold test, every deadline worst first, notices on the agent's letterhead, a dated register of who was served, observations with their responses, estimates with the checks, and the whole consultation file printed in one go.

Everything Servanda does

The law

The legislation is the authority; this page is a plain summary for England, checked on 2026-10-23. Wales and Scotland have their own rules. Take advice on any particular building.