Section 20 consultation: how do you run major works properly?

Sooner or later every building faces a big job. The roof, the lift, the external redecoration. For a Right to Manage company these are the moments that matter most, and they are also where the law is strictest. Before your building spends serious money, you have to consult the leaseholders formally. This guide walks through Section 20 consultation step by step.

The short version. If planned works will cost any one leaseholder more than £250, or a contract lasting over a year will cost any one leaseholder more than £100 a year, you must consult before you commit. The process runs through set notices with 30-day windows, leaseholders can put forward a contractor, and if you skip it the company can only recover £250 or £100 per flat, however much the job actually cost.

In this guide:

• When Section 20 consultation is required
• The three stages, step by step
• What happens if you get it wrong
• Doing it well when the residents are the company
• What is changing

When is Section 20 consultation required?

The rules come from Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and they apply to your RTM company just as they applied to the freeholder before you. There are three triggers:

• Qualifying works: one-off major works, such as repairing or replacing the roof or the lift, that will cost any one leaseholder more than £250 including VAT
• A qualifying long-term agreement: a contract for work or services lasting more than 12 months, such as cleaning, gardening or maintenance, that will cost any one leaseholder more than £100 a year including VAT
• Qualifying works under an existing long-term agreement, again where the cost to any one leaseholder passes £250

Notice the wording: any one leaseholder, not the total bill. In a 10-flat block where costs are shared equally, any job over £2,500 in total needs consultation, because each flat's share tops £250. And if your lease splits costs unequally, you consult whenever the flat paying the largest share crosses the threshold, even if everyone else is under it. One useful carve-out from earlier in this series: contracts of 12 months or less, such as buildings insurance, are not long-term agreements, so they do not trigger this process.

The three stages, step by step

Stage one is the notice of intention. You serve a notice on every leaseholder describing the works or services in general terms and explaining why they are needed. Leaseholders then have 30 days to make written observations and to nominate a contractor they would like to quote. You must try to get an estimate from a nominated contractor, which is worth welcoming rather than dreading: a neighbour's recommendation is sometimes where the best price comes from.

Stage two is the statement of estimates. Once you have your quotes, you send leaseholders at least two estimates, and one or more must be independent of the RTM company. You also summarise the observations from stage one and respond to them. You do not have to follow what leaseholders say, but you must genuinely consider it: the law's phrase is that you "have regard" to observations. Leaseholders then have another 30 days to comment on the estimates, and if you have not sent the full estimates out, they can inspect them at a suitable place.

Stage three is the notice of award, and it is only needed sometimes. If you choose the cheapest estimate, or the contractor a leaseholder nominated, you can simply get on with the work. If you choose anyone else, you must serve a notice giving your reasons, along with a summary of the observations on the estimates and your responses. One simplification worth knowing: for works carried out under an existing long-term agreement, there is only one consultation stage, because the contractor has already been chosen.

What happens if you get it wrong

This is the part to take seriously. If you do not consult, or consult incorrectly, the company cannot recover more than £250 per leaseholder for works, or £100 per leaseholder per year for a long-term agreement. On a £30,000 roof across ten flats, that is £2,500 recoverable and a £27,500 hole. The escape route is called dispensation: the company can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for permission to skip or repair the consultation, which is how genuinely urgent jobs, like an emergency repair, get handled. But dispensation is at the tribunal's discretion, not automatic, so the safe habit is simple: if a job might cross the threshold, consult. And remember from our guide to RTM service charges that all service charges must be reasonable regardless, so consultation done properly protects the company as well as the leaseholders.

Doing it well when the residents are the company

Here is the quiet advantage of Right to Manage. Section 20 was designed to protect leaseholders from a distant landlord spending their money. In your building, the people running the consultation and the people being consulted are neighbours, so the formal notices simply put structure around a conversation you would want to have anyway. Talk before you serve anything: agree the problem, walk the building together, then let the paperwork confirm what everyone already understands. Pair it with the discipline from our repairs and maintenance guide, meeting contractors on site and comparing at least two quotes, and with a reserve fund built up in advance, and a major project becomes a planned event rather than a crisis. One practical note: with two 30-day windows plus tendering time, the process takes several months, so start well before the work becomes urgent.

What is changing

The Section 20 regime itself is under review. In 2025 the government consulted on strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services, and that included proposals to reform the major works procedure, alongside ideas such as asset management plans and mandatory reserve funds. The consultation closed in September 2025 and the government is analysing responses, with changes to follow through further regulations. None of it is law yet, and the £250 and £100 thresholds still apply today. We will update this guide when anything takes effect.

Where this leaves you

Section 20 looks like bureaucracy from the outside, and from the inside it is closer to a safety rail: it forces the big spending decisions into the open, which is exactly where a resident-run building wants them. Know the thresholds, serve the notices, genuinely listen, and keep the paper trail. It is one part of the wider role our overview of RTM director responsibilities sets out. Next in this series we cover keeping the building safe and compliant. And if your building has not taken control yet, check whether it qualifies.

Sources and further reading

• LEASE: Section 20 consultation for major works (right to manage)
• LEASE: Responding to Section 20 consultation
• legislation.gov.uk: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, sections 20 and 20ZA and Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003
• House of Commons Library: Leasehold reform in England and Wales: what's happening and when?