Long Term Agreements
Frequently Asked Questions about Notices of Intention to
Enter into a Long Term Agreement
1. Why are you writing to me?
We are planning ahead. We want to enter into long-term
agreements with contractors for works which may become necessary in
the future.
The law states that we must consult with you, our leaseholders
and any Recognised Tenants’ Association (RTA), if the amount
payable by any one of you is likely to exceed £100 in any one year.
Although none of the work has yet been specifically identified it
is very likely that the cost of future work to some of you will be
above this amount.
This means that before approaching a contractor for a tender, we
must send you a ‘notice of our intention’ to enter into a long-term
agreement.
This is the first stage of a formal consultation process (A
‘notice of intention to enter into a qualifying long-term agreement
where a public notice is required’) and we are inviting you to let
us have your written observations on the proposed agreement.
2. Why does Ascham Homes want to enter into long-term
agreements?
Contracts of this kind will set the price in advance for each
kind of job we may ask a contractor to carry out.
Long-term agreements can help reduce prices because they allow
contractors to plan their workload over a longer period. The new
contracts can also be written to make sure everyone works closely
together. This can result in other savings (on the cost of
materials, for example) as the contract progresses.
By having contracts in place we won’t have to tender to obtain
prices for each individual job or re-tender a number of individual
contracts each year. We also anticipate that entering into a long
term agreement will be the best way of obtaining value for
money.
Contracts will include performance targets and will include a
termination provision which can be exercised in the event of
ongoing poor performance.
3. Will all the work mentioned in the notices be carried
out to my block?
Only works considered necessary and relevant to your block will
be carried out. The contracts we want to enter into are in
preparation for work that may become necessary later.
4. Can I nominate a contractor to do the
work?
Not on this occasion. As the contract is for services and has an
estimated value in excess of £150k per annum across the borough the
proposed agreement has to be advertised publicly within the
European Community. All contractors will therefore be able to see
the Public Notice in the Official Journal of the European
Union.
5. Will this cost me money?
This notice is a ‘notice of intention to enter into a qualifying
long-term agreement.’ It is not a demand or request for money. We
will only charge you for work that is actually carried out after we
have awarded the contracts to successful tenderers. If we need to
carry out any single item of maintenance work to your flat block
under any of the proposed long-term agreements which will cost you
more than £250, we will write to you first with a further
consultation notice.
6. What happens next?
Sending you the notice and asking for your observations is the
first stage of the consultation.
We will then consider your response. As agents for your
landlord, Ascham Homes must ‘have regard to’ any observations you
send us in writing within the consultation period.
Once Ascham Homes has received tenders from contractors, the
consultation then moves on to the second stage. We will then:
- provide you with further details of the proposals; (This is
called a ”notice of the proposals to enter into a long-term
agreement, where public notice is required.”)
- provide you with a summary of the written observations that we
received within the specified time limit during stage one; and
- invite you to make further written observations within another
30 day period.
We may send all this to you in a pack or we may invite you to
come in and view the information at one of our offices.
7. Where can I find out more about my rights as a
leaseholder?
This notice is being served under the provisions of the
Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002. Further information may
be obtained by contacting LEASE, (Leasehold Advisory Service) at 31
Worship Street, London, EC2A 2DX, Telephone: 020 7374 5380 , or you
could seek advice from your solicitor.
Glossary of Terms
The following legal terms may have been used in the documents
you have been sent, here is an explanation of what they mean
Qualifying works
Qualifying works are repairs, maintenance or improvement works
to a building or other premises that are covered by the statutory
requirements.
Qualifying Long-Term Agreement (QLTA)
A QLTA is an agreement with a contractor to provide goods or
services which runs for more than 12 months. Under the law, we must
consult with you, as leaseholders and send you a ‘notice of
intention’, if the amount payable by any one of you for work done
under the contract will exceed £100 in any one year. A QLTA can be
for carrying out major works or supplying repair and maintenance
services, or for things such as buildings insurance cover.
Public Notice
A Public Notice is a notice published in the Official Journal of
the European Union. We are required to do this when the value of a
QLTA reaches a financial threshold. When this threshold is reached
we have to comply with the European Union rules for advertising and
letting contracts.
Recognised Tenants’ Association (RTA)
An RTA is an association of residents formed under the
provisions of S29 of the Landlord and
Tenant Act 1985, and ‘recognised’ by the landlord for the
purpose of consultation. It is not necessarily the same as any
Tenants and Residents’ Association which may exist on your
estate.
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