Your lease explained
When you bought your home you signed a lease. Your lease is a legal document that explains your rights and responsibilities as a leaseholder and the relationship between you and us.
Your solicitor should have explained the lease before you bought your home, if you have any questions your solicitor or we can help you. There is a lot of good help and advice on The Leasehold Advisory Service (lease-advice.org)
Your lease explains:
- When and by how much your rent goes up each year.
- How you can buy more shares in your home.
- How you can sell your home.
If you bought a newly-built home a plan will be attached to your lease. This plan shows the boundaries of your home, as well as any parking spaces and the fences and walls that are your responsibility to maintain. The lease contains legally-binding responsibilities, both for you and us.
Your responsibilities:
- You must pay your rent and service charge, as set out in your lease
- You must not carry out major alterations to your home without our permission
- You must keep your home in good repair inside and out if you have a house and inside if you have an flat
- You must get permission from us to keep a pet. If you bought your home under the DIYSO scheme, there are usually no restrictions
Our responsibilities:
- We must keep your home insured by arranging your buildings insurance
- We must consult you about repairs to any shared areas that will cost more than £250 for each home
- We must keep the outside of blocks of flats in good repair
- We must not unreasonably refuse you permission for improvements or alterations to your home
- It is important that you keep to the conditions of your lease
You can read our Leasehold Management Policy document here: Leasehold Management Policy Final Dec 2020.pdf [pdf] 197KB