When does each Section 20 notice have to go out?

Put in the date you want to sign the contract and say what is being consulted on. The tool works backwards to the latest date for each notice and each 30-day window, and shows the cap that applies if a step is missed.Put in the signing date and say what is being consulted on. The tool works backwards to the latest date for each notice and window, and shows the cap if a step is missed.

When do you want to sign the contract?

The date the block commits to the works or the agreement.

How many flats share the cost?

Sets the cap if a step is missed.

What is being consulted on?

This decides which schedule of the Regulations your dates come from. The three answers do not share a timetable.This decides which schedule your dates come from.

Works costing more than £250 for any one flatA new contract for the works.Works under a long-term agreement (more than twelve months) the block already hasA maintenance, lift or grounds contract of more than twelve months.A new agreement of more than twelve months where any one flat pays more than £100 in an accounting periodEntering into the agreement itself.

How long do you need to get the estimates in?How long to get the estimates in?

Days between the first window closing and the statement of estimates or proposals going out. The Regulations set no period for this, so it is your own allowance, and it moves the two dates before that statement.Days. The Regulations set no period for this, so it is your own allowance.

Public notice of this contract is requiredPublic notice is requiredAlmost never for a resident-owned block. Tick it only if this contract has to be advertised under the Procurement Act 2023.Almost never for a resident-owned block.

No sign-up. We keep a record of the dates you entered. We keep your email address only if you ask for the dates by email. Dates follow the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003. See an example result · How the tool works.

What you get back

Which schedule your dates come from
Named on the result, with the regulation that routes you to it. Works under a long-term agreement the block already has run to three dates. Every other route has five, and a director must not read agreement dates as works dates.
SI 2003/1987 regs. 5, 7 (opens in new tab)
The latest date for each notice
Worked back from your signing date, with your own allowance for getting the estimates in. Each stop says whether the date comes from the Regulations or from that allowance.
Sch 1–4 (opens in new tab)
Each 30-day window
When observations can be made, and the earliest the block may go ahead. The period begins with the date of the notice, so the notice’s own day is day one. A notice served after its date here pushes the signing date back. Going ahead before a window has closed is a missed step.
reg. 2 (opens in new tab) (relevant period)
What a missed step costs
The block can recover no more than £250 from each flat, or £100 a flat in each accounting period for an agreement, unless a tribunal dispenses with the consultation requirements.
LTA 1985 s.20(1), (7), s.20ZA (opens in new tab); regs. 4(1), 6 (opens in new tab)
Where the file goes next
Who must be served, what proof of service to keep, and how the observations are logged. If a step is ever questioned, the block has to show what it did, and a tribunal deciding dispensation looks at what leaseholders lost.
SI 2003/1987 Schs 1–4, para 1(1) (opens in new tab); Daejan v Benson [2013] UKSC 14 (opens in new tab)

There are other timeline calculators. This one asks which route you are on before it gives you dates, tells you what it costs the block to get one wrong, and hands the dates to a file that keeps the proof.