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Home Your Leasehold

YOUR LEASE, YOUR RIGHTS AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Your lease:

Your lease is a legal agreement between the council (the landlord) and you. It is a contract between two parties which sets out the rights and responsibilities of both you the home owner and the landlord.

The lease is a legal document and contains a number of legal terms which you may not be familiar with. Your solicitor should have gone through your lease with you when you bought your home.

Like most legal documents it can be difficult to read and understand. We have included in "Standard Lease" a plain English version of the lease. This is in a summary form and is only there to help you. It is not the lease and has no legal status.

You should keep a copy of your lease in a safe place. If you loose it or need a further copy we can provide you with one. You will have to pay the costs of providing this to you.

It used to be that the lease would run for a period (term) of 125 years from the date of the first sale in the block. For example if the first flat was sold in 1990 and you bought your flat in 2000 your lease will be for 125 years from 1990, so you get 110 years. This has now changed and new leases are for 124 years and 9 months at least.

You have the right to extend your lease, contact the Homeowner team and ask for a leaflet "Lease extensions and Enfranchisement"

Your rights:

Your rights as a leaseholder are protected by law on a number of issues. There are several Acts of Parliament which do this, the main ones are:

  • Housing Act 1985
  • Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985 & 1987
  • Housing & Planning Act 1986
  • Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
  • Housing Act 1996
  • Common hold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

Copies of these can be found in most public libraries.

Management:

You have the right to expect your landlord to deal with any problems in your block or on your estate. This includes problems with nuisances like loud music, dumping of rubbish, parking etc.

Sub-letting and sharing your home:

You have the right to sub-let your home to another person either by renting the property out or granting an under-lease. You do not have to ask our permission to do this, but you must tell us you are doing do and probably tell you mortgage lender too.

Quiet enjoyment:

You have the right to the quiet enjoyment of your flat without interference or nuisance from your neighbours so long as you keep to the conditions of your lease.

Selling your flat:

You have the right to sell you lease to anyone you want to. You can also leave you lease to someone in your will or give it away as a gift. Remember if you bought the flat under the right to buy in the last three years you will have to repay some discount if you sell it.

Your Responsibilities:

As a leaseholder you have taken on a number of responsibilities under the lease agreement. This is not only in your own flat, you have in effect become a shareholder in the building where your flat is and have some responsibilities for the block.

Repairs and Maintenance:

You are responsible for keeping the inside of your flat in a reasonable condition and not doing anything or allowing anyone living with you, renting or leasing your property or visiting you to do something resulting in damage to the flat or building. You have a duty to report damage or faults you find in the building to your landlord.

Living with your neighbours:

Like you others in the building have the right to quiet enjoyment to their homes. You must make sure that you or anyone living in your flat does not cause a nuisance to others. The council will take action against nuisance neighbours and both tenants and leaseholders risk loosing their homes if they cause a nuisance.

Service charges:

You have taken on the responsibility to pay towards the costs of repairing and maintaining the building (and estate) and the services provided by the management company for example, caretaking, grounds maintenance and concierge services.

Failing to pay your service charges can put your home at risk and is against the conditions of your lease.

THE LEASEHOLDERS CHARTER

We will:

  • Act at all times as a reasonable and responsible agent of the landlord.
  • Respect and protect your rights as a leaseholder and will expect you to respect our rights and responsibilities as the landlords agents.
  • Keep the building in good condition to protect your investment and ours
  • Will deal with any nuisance problems caused by neighbours in your block and will expect you not to cause a nuisance to others.
  • Listen to what you have to say about our services and respond to those comments.
  • Adhere to our published service standards and continually work to improve those standards.