Leaseholders
Almost all flats in England and Wales are leasehold, as are many houses. As a Leaseholder you have purchased the right to live in your home for a fixed number of years.
The term, initially up to 125 years, starts to decrease every year until it expires and the ownership of the property returns to us, unless you apply to extend the lease.
The lease is the legal agreement or contract between the leaseholder/lessee (you) and the freeholder (Circle Anglia).
The lease sets out the rights and responsibilities of both parties, including the terms of the lease, the rental amount, and service charges. A copy of the lease should have been given to you by your solicitor when you purchased your property. Your solicitor should also have explained the main provisions of the lease to you.
Rights and Responsibilities:
The following information aims to summarise your rights and obligations as well as ours. It is not intended as an exhaustive list and where there is any discrepancy, it is the lease which is the superior document.
The Lease:
Your lease lays down the framework for the use and ownership of your home and details your obligations and rights as a lessee. It also details the services you can expect to receive as well as the restrictions placed upon your use of the property.
Please take time to read your lease to ensure that you are aware of its full content.
Your responsibilities:
By signing the lease, you have agreed to do the following:
- Pay rent and service charges that are due.
- Maintain the inside of your home, including keeping it in good decorative order.
- Report any damage to shared or communal areas.
- Not to make any alterations to the outside of the property and seek our permission before making any alterations to the inside.
- Tell us about any planning or other legal notices served that affect the building and notify us of any repairs that need to be done to the communal areas.
- Pay costs relating to any legal action that has been taken against you for breaking the terms of the lease.
- Give us reasonable access to inspect your home, provided we have given you notice. If you have not kept up your repairing obligations under the terms of your lease, we have the right to do the work and charge you for it.
- Follow the proper procedures set out in the lease related to selling shares in your home.
- Not do anything that would invalidate the buildings insurance policy.
- Adhere to parking restrictions and guidelines.
- Dispose of rubbish properly in the place provided.
- Not cause unnecessary nuisance to your neighbours.
Our responsibilities:
- Allow you to live undisturbed by us
- Keep the building (but not personal contents) insured.
- In a block of flats, repair, redecorate, and renew the roof, foundations, and main structure of the building. This includes all pipes, drains and wiring that serve more than one flat. We will also maintain shared areas.
Read full details of our Customer Service Standards for Leaseholders.
If you would like more information on your rights and responsibilities, service charges or our responsibilities to you, please contact your Portfolio Manager.