Wiltshire Council Housing Leaseholders Handbook

Major work

Major work includes projects like refurbishing the roof or carrying out external / communal redecoration, for which the cost of any individual flat‟s contribution is more than £250.

You should remember that we review these programmes regularly and they depend on changing priorities and the availability of finance. For example, if a roof suddenly deteriorates sooner than expected, we may have to bring this work forward. This may mean that we have to put back other work programmed for that year.

If you purchased your property under the Right to Buy Scheme, you will have received a summary of work and repairs that were likely to be carried out on the block over the first five years with an estimated cost of that work. We will let you know about any major work to be carried out after this period. We will give details of the work and the estimated cost.

Major works will be carried out under two headings. Our obligations to consult with leaseholders will differ depending on the category the works fall under.

Major works carried out under partnering and long-term agreements

We may have entered into a partnership agreement with contractors to undertake the planned maintenance work to reduce costs and increase the quality of the work carried out. Leaseholders would be consulted in accordance with the requirements of Section 20ZA Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 on the council‟s intention to enter into such a partnership and the selection of contractors. When work is to be carried out under this partnership agreement to the block in which you own a flat, you will be consulted (at least 30-days before any works are carried out) about the council‟s intention to do the work. You will also be advised of the estimated cost that will be incurred and the contribution due from you as a leaseholder.

Major works - qualifying works

When works are required that do not form part of any long term or partnering agreement we are required to carry out a more in-depth consultation with leaseholders if the cost is greater than £250 per flat.

We will issue a „notice of intention‟ under Section 20 ZA of the Landlord and Tenant Act (as amended by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002) to all leaseholders within the block. This notice will inform you that we plan to carry out works and the reasons for the works being necessary. You will have 30 days to submit written observations on our intention, and to put forward a contractor you would like to be included in the tender process. Any contractor you put forward will need to meet our conditions for approved contractors.

Once the 30-day consultation period has ended, we will serve a „notice and statement of estimates. This notice will give details of the two best estimates and tenders we have received and invite you, within 30 days, to submit written observations on these estimates.

The notice will give details of the estimated contribution that will become due from you as leaseholder.

The notice will also contain a summary of any comments we have received to the notice of intention, and our response to these. At the end of the 30-day consultation period, we can enter into a contract for the work to be carried out.

Within 21 days of awarding the contract, we will send all the leaseholders in the block a "notice of reasons", confirming which contractor we have appointed to carry out the work, and giving our reasons for awarding the contract. We do not need to serve a notice of agreement if the contractor we have chosen was put forward by a leaseholder or sent in the lowest estimate or tender for the job. The notice of agreement should include a summary of any comments we received in response to the notice of proposal, and our response to those comments.

Emergency works

If the work is needed urgently, for example repair to a badly leaking roof, we may ask permission from the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) not to follow the Section 20 ZA consultation procedure so that the repairs can be done immediately.

What about value for money?

Cheapest is not necessarily the best value for money and so to make sure we provide value for money, we have a comprehensive competitive tendering procedure for projects. We invite a number of carefully chosen contractors to bid for the work and appoint contractors based on considerations of price and quality.

Billing for major work

We will bill you for your contribution along with your annual service charges. How to pay for major work If you are going to have difficulty in paying the charges for major work, or if the costs are greater than your savings, you can:

• speak with the council and arrange payment terms
• get a loan from your bank or building society, if possible.
• If you purchased your flat under the Right to Buy Scheme, in the first ten years of the lease you may qualify for a service charge loan from the council. The loan is to cover the cost of repair bills with a minimum value of £1,500. This will be secured against your property and interest will be charged at the council‟s mortgage rate. Contact the leasehold and sales team for further information on service charge loans.