The Section 20 Notice Explained
The aim of the section 20 notice is to make the both parties involved in the lease (the lessor and the lessee) of a property responsible for paying a share of renovations costs. This is especially true for council who are increasingly using this piece of legislation to renovate their property portfolios. On top of the obvious problem of paying, the section 20 notice can also exert an extreme amount of pressure on someone trying to sell their property, as it has the potential to put off the buyer who does not want to pay for this ‘outrage’ only a few days/weeks after having moved in.
Additionally, the amount of time it takes to renovate a property means that on top of the financial problems raised by the section 20 notice, there will be structural problems relative to the type of renovation being undertaken. However, you can also understand that even if a buyer agrees to a sale on a property he knows is going to be subject to a section 20 notice, he will not be happy by the presence of scaffoldings or other building materials.
Furthermore, you as a property owner are required by law to inform the prospective buyer of the property about this section 20 notice if you have already received it. Getting out a ‘section 20 notice situation’ can be tough if you do not have the cash flow to finance the renovation of your property; however, there are some companies out there that will help.
Some services on the internet will provide you with information about how to make money on the side of your day job, but beware of ‘get quick rich’ or pyramid schemes as they have been proven to make you loose more money than you earn, if you do earn anything. On th other hand, there are some companies that will make sure you do not have to pay a penny of the requested amount by making an offer for your home -which usually results in a sale in less than a week. They usually offer cash lump sums, buy back and rent back options, but will only pay around 90% of the market price of your property. They are, however, a solution that should not be overlooked as they have helped many people avoid repossession of their home in the past.
The section 20 notice can be a real pain if it arrives at a time when you cannot afford, and can also make you feel very isolated as you may think ‘they did it on purpose! Just when I moved in”! The purpose of the section 20 notice is not to scam or trick leaseholders, but rather to split the costs of a necessary renovation between the landlord and the tenant to ensure that the tenant pays towards the renovation of the place he is living in.
Avon Barksdale writes articles for News on the Block, a leading flat & property mangement magazine for landlords and tenants. The magazine and its website also contains invaluable infromation about resolving Section 20 notices & problems.
