Partners will be unable to charge more than £500 for the major works it has carried out to leaseholders’ properties.
Again, the reason is because of the ruling made by the Lands Tribunal in the case of Mrs Abdel-Malek. This found that the Section 20B notice – essentially, a procedure for delaying presentation of the final bill – served by Islington Council was flawed. And, in particular, the tribunal said it was defective because it contained no figures.
The LT chair ruled the statement made by Islington Council “did not satisfy the particular requirements of Section 20B to identify the costs that had been incurred.” In May 2006 Partners served an almost identical Section 20B notice on about 400 of its 1,200 leaseholders. No figures for the costs incurred were put on the 20B notice. Work had been completed many months before.
Partners believed that the notice would allow it to present bills for work beyond the 18-month limit which the legislation says is when a bill must be presented to be enforceable. For hundreds of Partners leaseholders it is now more than 18 months since work was completed on their properties.
Ms Claire Thorogood, leasehold manager for Partners, was unaware of the Lands Tribunal decision. Partners’ Section 20 notice was believed to have been prepared by Marsons, its solicitors, in consultation with Arden, leading barristers in landlord and tenant law.
Ms Thorogood said in mid-October that she believed that Hyde’s legal advice was sound (Hyde Housing is one of Partners' consortium partners).
Written by Geoffrey Hurst
