The document provides information on the responsibilities of landlords in maintaining residential properties, including: - Landlords have a duty to properly maintain the building structure and facilities according to the lease terms. - Good landlords implement a planned preventative maintenance schedule and reserve fund paid into by previous owners to fund future repairs. - Leaseholders should be consulted on major repair projects according to a defined process involving notice, estimates, statements, and responses to observations. - If proper procedures are not followed, leaseholders may not be required to pay more than the statutory cap of £250 for repair works.

1. Major works
RESIDENTIAL
LEASEHOLD EXPERTS

2. THE BASICS
• Your Landlord has a duty to you and all Leaseholders in the
property, to properly and continually maintain the fabric, structure
and any other specified aspects of the Building / Estate, to an
adequate standard in line with the terms of all Leases in place.
• A good Landlord will run a Planned Preventative Maintenance
Schedule (PPM) for each of their properties individually.
• A good Landlord will operate a Reserve Fund / Contingency Fund
which is basically a savings pot which every previous owner of the
flat will have been paying into since the original Lease was granted.
• When you buy a property you should enquire as to the value of the
reserve fund. If there is no reserve fund in place then beware, this
is usually a very good indicator of poor and haphazard
management.
• You should not have to pay towards years of neglectful
management.

3. PLANNED PREVENTETIVE
MAINTENANCE (PPM)
The Planned Preventative Maintenance Scheme / Schedule is usually
created in conjunction with Building Condition Surveys undertaken by a
qualified Building Surveyor and Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Experts. This Scheme is basically the handbook for the ongoing health
and planned maintenance of the Building / Estate. The PPM Schedule
estimates in line with industry standards the life cycle of certain key
elements of the property such as the roof, windows, lifts etc. This
document is absolutely key to the standard levels of good management
practice which every Leaseholder should expect and demand from
their Landlord. If your Landlord does not operate a Planned
Preventative Maintenance Scheme / Schedule then you should be very
wary of their long term management skills. You are entitled to know
what expenditure is coming, what options have been considered and
how much the next round of works is going to cost.

4. RESERVE FUND /
CONTINGENCY FUND
The Reserve or Contingency Fund can be referred to by various names
but they are all essentially the same thing. The fund is basically a pot
of money which is accrued by the Landlord and held strictly in Trust in
anticipation of Major Works / Expenditure. Several separate sections
of the fund can be put in place contributing to specific items of future
expenditure. Think of this fund as an insurance policy; where every
previous owner of your flat has been paying into it during the course of
their ownership. You will then do the same in anticipation of any
project of works which is to cost a large amount of money. If for
instance each flat had contributed £10,000 into the pot and a project of
works becomes necessary costing £10,000 then you would not have to
find your contribution as it would have already been accrued. Now
consider the scenario where such a fund does not exist and the same
bill needs to be paid for .......... If you are reading this guide we suspect
you are already familiar with this concerning situation.

5. CONSULTATION – WHAT IS THE
MINIMUM I SHOULD EXPECT?
There are several consultation processes which should be applied in
different circumstances. We will lay out and briefly explain the full
Schedule 4 Part 2 Consultation requirements as they are the most
common. The basic extracted stages of this consultation are as follows:
1. Notice of Intention
2. Regard to observations
3. Landlord to seek estimates
4. Notice of Estimate / Paragraph B Statement
5. Notice accompanying Paragraph B Statement
6. Regard to observations
7. Notification of reasons

6. NOTICE OF INTENTION
Notice of intention to carry out qualifying works is given to each
Leaseholder and any recognised tenants' association RTA, as defined
in Section 29, Landlord & Tenant Act 1985. The notice must describe
in general terms the proposed works, or specify a place and hours
where the description may be inspected.
The notice must state the reasons for the works, and invite written
observations, specifying where they should be sent, over what period
(30 days from the notice), and the end date. Further, the notice must
contain an invitation for nominations of persons from whom the
manager should obtain estimates.

7. REGARD TO OBSERVATIONS
Where, within the relevant period (as specified but usually a minimum
of 30 Days), observations are made, in relation to the proposed works
by any tenant or recognised tenants’ association, the Landlord shall
have regard to those observations.

8. LANDLORD TO SEEK
ESTIMATES
The Landlord must seek estimates:
i) from a single nominee of an Registered Tenant’s Association (RTA)
(whether or not any are received from individual Leaseholders);
ii) from a single nominee of only one Leaseholder (whether or not one
is made by an RTA);
iii) if single nominations are made by more than one Leaseholder
(whether or not any are made by an RTA), the Landlord must seek
an estimate from the person with most nominations, or, if there is
no clear leader but there are two or more who tie for first place,
from one of those. If the result is not even that clear (for example,
there could be five nominees with one vote each), an estimate
must be obtained from one of them. If multiple nominations are
received from any Leaseholder and more than one from the RTA,
the Landlord must request an estimate from at least one person
nominated by a Leaseholder and at least one nominated by the RTA.

9. NOTICE OF ESTIMATE /
PARAGRAPH B STATEMENT
The Landlord then issues a statement (free of charge) setting out the
estimated cost from at least two of the estimates and a summary of the
observations received and his responses to them. The statement is
issued with a notice (see next section). At least one of the estimates
shown in the statement must be from a person wholly unconnected
with the Landlord. If any estimates were received from Leaseholders'
nominees, they must be included in the statement.
There is no need to attach copies of estimates; indeed, the regulations
state that all the estimates must be made available for inspection. If
the Landlord intends to attach copy estimates to help Leaseholders, he
should also make it clear that they are all available for inspection.)
The regulations call this the 'paragraph b statement'.

10. NOTICE ACCOMPANYING
PARAGRAPH B STATEMENT
The statement must be sent out with a notice, detailing where and
when all of the estimates may be inspected and inviting each
Leaseholder and any RTA to make written observations on any of the
estimates, specifying an address where they should be sent, the
consultation period (30 days from the notice) and the end date.

11. REGARD TO OBSERVATIONS
Where, within the relevant period (as specified but usually a minimum
of 30 Days), observations are made, in relation to the proposed works
by any tenant or recognised tenants’ association, the Landlord shall
have regard to those observations.

12. NOTIFICATION OF REASONS
Unless the chosen contractor is a Leaseholder's or RTA nominee or
submitted the lowest estimate, the Landlord must give notice within 21
days of entering into the contract to each Leaseholder and any RTA,
stating his reasons for the selection, or specifying a place and hours for
inspection of such a statement.
The Landlord must also summarise any observations made and his
responses. There is no requirement for inspection of the summary and
responses in this case.

13. CONCLUSION
As demonstrated by this brief step by step tutorial you as a Residential
Leaseholder have multiple rights. If these rights and procedures are
not adhered to strictly by your Landlord then there is a very good
chance that you do not have to pay more than the Statutory Cap of
£250 towards any Major Works Project.
SO WHAT DO I DO NOW?

14. CONTACT US
Landmark Residential specialise in representing Residential
Leaseholders in disputes against residential Freeholders / Landlords.
We are by far the most successful company in this sector offering
professional representation to Leaseholders and we pride ourselves in
driving positive results for our clients.
Call now to arrange a free, no obligation telephone consultation with
one of our surveyors. Can you afford not to?
0845 475 2002