What is a lease?

A lease is a contract between the leaseholder and the landlord giving conditional ownership for a fixed period of time. It is an important document and leaseholders should ensure that they have a copy and that they understand it. The wording of leases is usually in legal language and can vary from property to property. Leaseholders who find it difficult to understand their lease should get advice from a solicitor and insist that they provide a report on its terms when they are instructed to deal with the purchase.

The lease sets out the contractual obligations of the two parties: what the leaseholder has contracted to do, and what the landlord is bound to do. The leaseholder’s obligations will include payment of the ground rent (if any) and contribution to the costs of maintaining and managing the building. The lease will probably also place certain conditions on the use and occupation of the flat. The landlord will usually be required to manage and maintain the structure, exterior and common areas of the property, to collect service charges from all the leaseholders and keep the accounts.

What is leasehold?

Leasehold flats can be in purpose-built blocks, in converted houses or above commercial or retail premises.

Leasehold ownership of a flat is simply a long tenancy, the right to occupation and use of the flat for a long period – the ‘term’ of the lease. This will usually be for 99 or 125 years and the flat can be bought and sold during that term. The term is fixed at the beginning and so decreases in length year by year. Thus, if it were not for inflation, the value of the flat would diminish over time until the eventual expiry of the lease, when the flat returns to the landlord (although an assured tenancy would then become a possibility).

The leasehold ownership of a flat usually relates to everything within the four walls of the flat, including floorboards and plaster to walls and ceiling, but does not usually include the external or structural walls. The structure and common parts of the building and the land it stands on are usually owned by the freeholder, who is also the landlord. The freeholder is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the building. The costs for doing so are recoverable through the service charges and billed to the leaseholders.

The landlord can be a person or a company, including a local authority or a housing association. It is also quite common for the leaseholders to own the freehold of the building, through a residents’ management company, effectively becoming their own landlord. Furthermore under right to manage, the lessees may not own the freehold but are able to manage the building as if they were the landlord.

What are service charges?

Service charges are payments by the leaseholder to the landlord for all the services the landlord provides. These will include maintenance and repairs, insurance of the building and, in some cases, provision of central heating, lifts, porterage, estate staff, lighting and cleaning of common areas etc. Usually the charges will also include the costs of management, either by the landlord or by a professional managing agent.

What is ground rent?

Because leasehold is a tenancy, it is subject to the payment of a rent (which may be nominal) to the landlord. Ground rent is a specific requirement of the lease and must be paid on the due date, subject to the issue of a formal and specific demand by the landlord.

What are reserve funds?

Many leases provide for the landlord to collect sums in advance to create a reserve or ‘sinking’ fund to ensure that sufficient money is available for future scheduled major works, such as external decorations or lift replacement. The lease will set out the arrangements for this and when regular, cyclical, maintenance works are due. Contributions to the reserve fund are not repayable when the flat is sold. If there is insufficient money in the reserve fund to deal with major works the costs will be shared between owners in the proportions set out in the individual leases.

What are your responsibilities?

Principally, these will be the requirements to keep the inside of the flat in good order, to pay (on time) a share of the costs of maintaining and running the building, to behave in a neighbourly manner and not to do certain things without the landlord’s consent, for example, make alterations or sublet. The landlord has an obligation to ensure that the leaseholder complies with such responsibilities for the good of all the other leaseholders. These rights and responsibilities will be set out in the lease.

What are your contractual rights?

First and foremost, the right of peaceable occupation of the flat for the term of the lease, usually referred to as ‘quiet enjoyment’. In addition, the leaseholder has the right to expect the landlord to maintain and repair the building and manage the common parts – that is, the parts of the building or grounds not specifically granted to the leaseholder in the lease but to which there are rights of access, for example, the entrance hall and staircases.

What happens if the leaseholder doesn’t pay?

It is the leaseholder’s obligation to pay the service charges and ground rent promptly under the terms of the lease. If they are not paid and the landlord is able to satisfy a Tribunal that the charges are properly due and reasonable, then he can begin forfeiture proceedings by applying for a court order. The court has wide discretion where forfeiture is concerned, but if forfeiture is approved by a court, this can lead to the landlord repossessing the flat.

The landlord may also seek a county court judgment for payment, which can affect a leaseholder’s ability to obtain credit.

Which areas do you cover?

We can manage your development anywhere in England and Wales.

What are your office working hours?

We are open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

We also have an out of hours number which is available 24/7 for emergency repairs.