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In my experience of flat shopping a few years ago, reserve funds are rare for older flats / converted houses and yes, section 20 is a big driver of sales.
NickCJ-
Got any stats? I find it hard to believe it's a sole or primary driver of a significant proportion of leasehold sales.
My conjecture would be fear of a big or unpayable bill is a primary or sole factor in a small minority of sales - if say you were a 60 year old Ex LA flat owner who has no mortgage and bought in 1985 for £35k you would struggle to pay a £15k bill, so yeah, you'd need to do something radical. Landlords wanting to optimise might do it too but then they get hit with a big CG tax bill. I suppose if they have owned the place for ten years it makes sense to cash in as a medium term investment, and if you can avoid a maintenance bill whilst you are at, more power to you. You certainly wouldn't tell a prospective buyer that, though.
It doesn't make that much sense for vanilla leaseholders who can remortgage, unless you combine the concern with other more fundamental drivers, like the need to simply move for work or upsizing etc.
Howard
Are there many doing this?
Most private blocks have reserve funds that if well managed will pay for works.
Ex LA stuff tends not to - for reasons that I don’t really understand. This causes problems.