Does emergency work over-ride a S20?

Hi all, We are a block affected by the lack of fire stopping, cladding and other fire-related issues. The block is 5 years old and has numerous issues and defects and when we formed the Right to Manage (RTM) in March we took on all these issues and more that the managing agent had not dealt with.

The insurers gave us 6 months to get a fire risk appraisal of external walls (FRAEW) to continue cover, clearly, the Managing agent had fudged information for the previous 5 years as apparently, we had cover but not in our name. We have carried out and are in the process of carrying out works, including the sprinkler/mist system and this went over the S20 amount due to a change in the pipework.

We decided to carry on rather than stop and retender as there was no time. The FRAEW has raised many more issues and as we started this remedial work 3 months ago we are well on the way to meeting the recommendations but the managing agents have now given us notice for not retendering the S20 and sacked us with 2months notice. They were the original managing agents as there were so many issues we felt we needed to keep them going.

They carried out no remedial works during their reign. We have fire doors that haven’t passed the FRA that was there from the start, a threat of enforcement action by the Local Authority due to excessive heat in the flats due to a lack of ventilation (blocked and not installed) and a heating system that had been wrongly commissioned that we have now had redone. It’s been full-on since the RTM started.

The first question is what is the situation with overspending on a S20?

The second question is we need to carry out works for a fire alarm system and need to raise funds for this. Can we do this during the S20 works or before as to wait for 3 months for the end of the process means we could be exposing the building to good old ‘waking watch’.

Does emergency work over-ride a S20?

Had we not done the work we had we would be looking at employing waking watch.

The Block is well below 18m but has internal cladding and no compartmentalisation (we have a S20 for this). It’s just trying to literally do a rebuild with people and authorities breathing down our necks. The last thing we needed was for the managing company, who had done little, to now sack us for actually doing something but we need them for the general running of the show.

The main query is can we do emergency works without a S20 – or ‘S20 to follow’?

Harlequin Garden

Editor’s Note:

From the government’s Leasehold Advisory Service >> https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/what-is-the-section-20-consultation-process-for-major-works/

“As a leaseholder, you have the right to be consulted if the landlord carries out major works for which you will be asked to pay. This consultation process has two and sometimes three stages:

• First stage – a notice of intention to do the works
• Second stage – notification of estimates obtained by the landlord
• Third stage – where applicable, notification of award of contract

Detailed information on each of the three stages of consultation can be found by clicking on the links below:

• What should the notice of intention to carry out major works contain?
• What should the notice of estimates for major works contain?
• What should the notification of award of contract for major works contain?
• Section 20 Consultation for Private Landlords, Resident Management Companies and their Agents
• Section 20 Consultation for Council and other public sector landlords
• More Frequently Asked Questions on Section 20 Consultation

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