Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing are responsible for the fabric of the building including walls, roofs, windows, and communal areas etc, external doors specifically for access to the leasehold flat and internal works are not covered by the lease and as such will not be repaired by Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing.

Where the repair is specific to the flat the work will be ordered to that specific address, however if the repair is to the block that the flat is in then it will be ordered on the Communal File.

Lease/Service Agreement

Basically the lease contains a covenant for which the Council is responsible for maintaining the structure of the building, however the Council has an obligation to recover the costs of such repairs (planned and responsive) and improvements by the way of an annual service charge.

Leasehold/Service Agreement Charges

Where should section 20 notices be issued to leaseholders?

Where the work affects only one leasehold property and the work is going to exceed £250.00 a letter and S20 notice will be sent to the leaseholder.

However where work affects the block or the estate the following procedure will be followed:

Repair affecting the block

Where a repair affects a block of flats and there is one or more leaseholder in that block and the repair is likely to cost more than an average of £250.00 per flat then ALL the leaseholders within that block will be sent a letter and an S20 notice detailing what work is required and how much the repair will cost and what their contribution will be.

For example: The replacement of a flat roof is required at a cost of £1500.00 and there are 4 flats in the block, two are leasehold and 2 are still owned by the Council. The average cost per flat is £375.00 so an S20 will need to be sent to both leaseholders (even though they may both be ground floor flats and the roof is not directly over their flat they must still pay their contribution.)

Repair affecting the estate

Where a repair affects the estate and there is one or more leaseholders in that estate and the repair is likely to cost more than an average of £250.00 per flat then ALL the leaseholders on the estate will be sent a letter and an S20 notice detailing what work is required and how much the repair will cost and what their contribution will be.

For example: The replacement of slabbing with tarmac to the estate footpaths is required at a cost of £23,000 and there are 50 flats on the estate, four are leasehold and the rest are Council owned. The average cost per flat is £460.00 so an S20 will need to be sent to all 4 leaseholders