We helped the leaseholder canvas other leaseholders for support by providing them with the tangible benefits of carrying out Right to Manage. It made the Leaseholds comfortable with the idea once we highlighted that the Right to Manage process would be carried out by our Legal Services Director. Most leaseholders didn’t know it was possible to carry out the Right to Manage.

The leaseholders were asked to get in touch with their telephone numbers/email addresses so that we could organise a meeting to discuss next steps.

We immediately applied to Companies house to register the company and prepared Notices to Participate to serve on all those leaseholders who did not attend the meeting, inviting them to also become members. We are obliged by law to wait 14 days before the Notice of Claim can be served on the Landlord.

The Notice of Claim was sent to the Landlord and other parties to the lease. The Landlord did make contact with us immediately after receiving the notice. We explained the process to them and highlighted the Landlord Duties with regards the claim.

The Landlord is given a deadline date to respond which is at least one month after the notice is served. We didn’t here anything else from them until the final day they had to respond. If they hadn’t responded then we would have automatically been awarded the Right to Manage. We received a letter from the Landlords Solicitor on the final day saying they didn’t dispute the claim.

We are managing the development on behalf of the Landlord and also collect the ground rent.

Review of Finances - The first stage was to review the last set of accounts and the current service charge budget to understand the level of reserve fund and service charge arrangements.
Following discussions with contractors to obtain a budget price for the required works, a new budget was produced incorporating the required funds to undertake the major works.
In addition, we also produced a 10 year forecast to enable us to smooth service charge collection and ensure funding for future works would not be an issue.

Section 20 Consultation - In accordance with Section 20 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (as amended), consultation notices were issued to all leaseholders.
The first stage notice informs the leaseholders of the intention to carry out works and allows them the opportunity to review the specification and nominate a contractor they believe would be suitable to provide a quotation for the works. Once all tenders were returned, and the 30 day consultation period had expired, a second notice is issued to all leaseholders detailing the estimates received from each contractor and any professional fees for management of the works.
This notice allows 30 days for leaseholders to make any written observations regarding the quotations. Following expiry of the 30 days, as the cheapest contractor was being appointed, an order was placed with the contractor.

Project Management - A specification / scope of works was produced in partnership with Akzo Nobel for issue to contractors to tender.
A 30 day competitive tender process was run and a formal tender report issued to the client with a recommendation of the contractor who should be selected. Before works commenced, risk assessments and method statements provided by the chosen contractor were reviewed along with their insurance and references.
During the works, regular visits were made to site and a final inspection to sign off the works took place before invoices were paid.