Strengthening leaseholder protections over fees, charges and services: consultation

2.4 Extended rights to obtain information on request

72. Leaseholders currently have the right to a written summary of costs and can inspect related documents (e.g. accounts, receipts and other documents related to the service charge information) within six months of receiving the summary.[13] If necessary, landlords are required to provide a suitable place for inspecting the documents within one month of the leaseholder’s request. While they provide some benefit for leaseholders, these provisions are restrictive and limit the amount of information that landlords are obliged to provide.

73. While landlords will provide more information to leaseholders through the annual report and on buildings insurance (see section 2.1 and section 2.7), leaseholders may still have further questions and want to have access to various additional documents to understand matters in more detail. We believe leaseholders should have access to key documents (e.g. fire risk assessments) at any time, not just to inform prospective buyers when selling a property. This will help those that wish to have further details of what they are paying for and help them to better hold landlords to account. It may also help avoid disputes from escalating if leaseholders can find assurance on a particular matter with the provision of additional information. Information available on request should include access to documents that relate to items of expenditure in the service charge as well as those which deal with the management and maintenance of individual buildings.

74. In addition to the existing rights, leaseholders with local authority landlords may request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and, in England, the UK government is also seeking to increase transparency for tenants (renters and extended to leaseholders that are shared owners with less than a 100% share) of private registered providers of social housing (PRPs). The UK government will direct the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) for PRPs. STAIRs will require PRPs to proactively publish specific information about the management of their homes.

75. The 2024 Act repeals the existing rights and replaces it with new enhanced leaseholder rights to request more detailed information about service charges, building management, insurance and maintenance from their landlord. Leaseholders can also request access to relevant information held by third parties, and they can request to inspect information either in person or to receive copies of documents sent to them. The landlord may charge the leaseholder for making copies, but may not charge leaseholders for viewing information in person unless copies are made.

76. The Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers have a range of new powers to create a robust yet proportionate framework to ensure leaseholders receive information they are entitled to.[14] Here, we are seeking views on how to implement this new enhanced regime.

i) Information that can be requested from landlords

77. We propose the following prescribed list of financial and non-financial information that leaseholders can request, see Table 1 below. This includes details on ‘building and site management’ and ‘financial management’ associated with a leaseholder’s property.

Table 1. Information leaseholders are entitled to receive

78. We would welcome views on the appropriateness of disclosing the information listed in Table 1 and whether you think there is any further information that leaseholders should be able to access.

ii) How documents should be provided and time periods covered

79. We propose that leaseholders should be able to request information from their landlord through a range of channels, for example, by email or in writing (see section 3.6) to make requests more accessible for them.

80. Landlords should make a reasonable effort to provide the requested information in an accessible format and manner, including information obtained from third parties (as set out in paragraphs 85-87). Many people prefer to receive documents digitally, and landlords should use email where practical to do so.

81. We propose that leaseholders can request documents from previous years. For example, the Limitation Act 1980 allows challenges to the reasonableness of variable service charges up to six (or sometimes 12) years, while homebuying processes allow conveyancers to ask for some documents (such as service charge accounts) going back three years. We are minded to be consistent with the period for challenging service charges, given the information may be sought in relation to supporting a service charge challenge, and therefore propose setting the limit at six years.

iii) Timeframe for providing requested information

82. The 2024 Act requires that landlords must provide requested information within a specified time period. If they fail to do so, leaseholders can apply to the appropriate tribunal, which can both enforce the request as well as make an award of up to £5,000 in damages. The timetable for providing information should also be fair and reasonable with regards to the needs of landlords and managing agents working on their behalf.

83. We propose that gathering, and providing to the leaseholder, all relevant information requested should generally take no more than 28 calendar days. Though how feasible this is may depend on factors like the nature of the request, whether the landlord holds the necessary information, and whether documents can be sent electronically. We welcome views on this proposed time limit.

84. We consider that extensions to the proposed 28 day limit should only be justified in specific circumstances. For example, where a large volume of information is required from a third party. Since landlords usually already hold most of the relevant proposed information (as at Table 1), the cases for seeking extensions should be rare.

85. Where the landlord does need to seek information from a third party, and for example, the information spans many years and involves multiple agents, our provisional view is that an extension of seven extra calendar days should be appropriate. In such circumstances we expect landlords to provide a clear explanation to the leaseholder on why the additional time is required. We welcome views on the period and the limited circumstances when it should be granted.

iv) Timeline when information is required from a third party

86. When meeting a leaseholder’s request for further information, there will be times when landlords may need to get information from a third party (also known as “the Receiving Party”) if they do not hold it themselves. For example:
    1. a superior landlord for building insurance or other information relating to the management of the building;  
    2. a landlord where a Right to Manage Company does not take over all the management functions; or
    3. a previous representative of the landlord, like a managing agent no longer employed for the building.
87. The 2024 Act requires the Receiving Party to provide the requested information within a specified period. Our provisional view is that 15 calendar days would be appropriate and that this period should fall within the landlords 28 calendar day timeframe. This means that, in order to meet the overall 28 day limit (described in paragraphs 83-84), the landlord would need to identify early on in the time period that they did not hold the information and make representations to the Receiving Party. 

v) Time period for inspecting documents in person

88. There may be circumstances where it may be easier to access the information and leaseholders may wish to inspect documents in person. Currently, landlords must provide access to their offices (or another suitable location) for two months, starting one month after the request is made. The 2024 Act removes the minimum period that landlords have to prepare documents and allows the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers to set a maximum timeframe for leaseholders to inspect documents, at a suitable facility. We propose that leaseholders should have a longer period from the date of the original request to access documents and are seeking views on whether three months would be more appropriate. Within this timeframe, it will be for landlords to work with the leaseholder to determine how long they need to be in attendance to inspect the required information and to agree a suitable location to do so.  

vi) Exemptions from the duty to comply with an information request

89. There are circumstances where it may not be appropriate for landlords to provide requested information to leaseholders. We are minded to provide exemptions to landlords to provide information on request to leaseholders in only limited circumstances. We propose that exemptions should be limited to:
    1. Commercially sensitive information: if it cannot be redacted, the landlord should provide a summary of the information and explain why the full document cannot be provided; and
    2. Vexatious requests: for instance, if a leaseholder repeatedly asks for the same information within a short timeframe (e.g. within 3 months of each request).