Terms and conditions
The council is obliged to repair and maintain the structure and exterior of your property and any service installations to the block. It is also responsible for providing routine services, such as cleaning and lighting of communal areas.
You are responsible for the interior of your flat, including all fixtures and fittings. You may carry out, without the consent of the council, any repairs, decoration or general non-structural improvements. Alterations or improvements to the structure may not be carried out without the council’s prior consent.
The terms and conditions of your lease can only be varied if the changes are agreed by you and by the council. If you need further information please contact your managing agent, management co-operative or RMO.
General information
Click on the catagory below for more information.
Consultation
Tenant associations
Resident associations
Co-op and resident management
Right to manage
Buying the freehold
Buying a lease
Selling your property
Repayment of discounts
Sub-letting
Your managing agent
Consultation
The council is strongly committed to consulting with residents. Consultation will take place either on an individual basis or through representative’s forums such as: recognised tenant’s associations, accredited residents associations, Area Housing Panels, the coop/RMO Forum, the leaseholders’ Forums and the Borough Residents Forum. The council actively encourages residents to become involve in decisions that affect there home, and will always consult on important changes to policy and services.
Recognised tenant's association
A recognised tenant’s association is an association of leaseholders in a block, or an estate, recognised by a notice or certificate, under section 29 of the landlord and tenant act 1995 (as amended). Although tenants do not qualify under the act, they can still be, members of a recognised tenants’ association.
The council will issue a recognised notice if criteria are met theses criteria are:
- The members of the association should represent at least 60% of the flats in the block to which service charges are
attributable.
- The rules of the association should be fair, covering issues such as election off officers, legal and collection of
subscription, and voting arrangements.
- The association should adopt an equal opportunities policy.
Under the provisions of the landlord and tenant act, recognised tenants’ associations have a legal right to be consulted about all proposed major works to the building and/or the estate. The council must give the association’s secretary a notice containing a detailed specification of works. The council must obtain at least two estimates and a copy of each estimate should be given to the association’s secretary. All association leaseholder members have the right to inspect the detailed specification of works and the estimates, and to take copies at a reasonable charge if required.
Where the block or estate does NOT have a recognised tenants’ association, and works are proposed, the council obtains at least two estimates, and copies are given to each leaseholder concerned.
For further advice and information on setting up a recognised tenants’ association, or the consultant process, please contract the resident participation and support team on 020 8871 7901/7902.
Accredited resident's associations (ARA's)
Accredited Residents’ Associations (ARA’S) are there to represent your views. If you want to get involved in running your estate you should join your local residents association. If there is not an association in your area, then ask the council for help setting one up.
The council will consult ARAs on issues affecting housing management such as, the running of estates and services. Association representatives also have the opportunity to make their view known to the regular formal meetings operating under the council’s consultation structure.
Management co-operatives and Resident management organisation
Management co-operatives and Resident management organisation (RMOs) are agents of the council. They are formed of an association of residents who have joined together to mange their own dwellings in the partnership with the council. A legally binding agreement between the council and the co-operatives sets out the responsibilities of each party, together with financial arrangements and procedure to be followed.
Once establishing the co-operative has full responsibility for the general housing management of the estate such as day-to-day repairs, cleaning and garden maintenance. The co-operative may employ its own staff and contractors. It
may also take responsibility for rent collection, and the accounting, billing and collection of charges.
The income made by a co-operative is derived mainly from allowances paid to the council for tenanted dwellings, and from service charges paid by the leaseholders. The cost of services, which a co-operative does not provide, such as building insurance and major works charges, are assessed and charged by the council.
For further information and advice on co-operatives, please contact the resident participation and support team
on 020 8871 7901/7902.
The right to manage
The council supports the greater Involvement of residents in the management of their estates. You may be able to pursue the right to manage your estates by setting up a resident’s management organisation (RMO) to run all or some of the services normally provide by the council. There are a number off specialist’s agencies, approved and funded by the Government, who work directly with residents’ groups to develop such organisations.
You can get help and advice on setting up on a management resident management organisation by contacting the residents support and partition team on 020 8871 7901/7902.
Enfranchisement - buying the freehold
Long leaseholders of flats have the right to buy the freehold of their building as a group if they and their block qualify.
This is known as the right to ‘enfranchise’. Once they have bought the freehold, leaseholders can decide for themselves how to manage their block and take over the council’s responsibilities.
The council will assist qualifying leaseholders, who want to purchase collectively the freehold of their block, in cases, which meet the legislative requirements. The legislation in this area is complex and to establish whether you qualify, you should ash the council.
Enfranchisement has proved particularly popular among residents of converted street properties and small ‘infill’ blocks where all properties are in leasehold ownership.
More information about buying the freehold can be found in the booklet entitled leasehold flats - your right to buy the freehold of your building or renew your Lease. For further information and advice please contact your managing agent, management co-operative or RMO.
Buying a new lease
Leaseholders have the right to renew their lease. A new lease can be bought which adds another 90 years to the time left to run o the existing ease. To qualify you must have occupied your property as only or main home for the last three years or periods that add up to three years in the last ten.
More information about buying a new lease can be found in the booklet leasehold flats - your right to buy the freehold of your building or renew your Lease. For further information and advice please contact your managing agent, managing co-operative or RMO.
Selling your property (assignment of lease)
If you wish to sell your property, the council will, on written request, provide you or your solicitor with any relevant
factual information. There is a charge for this service. When requesting information, you should give the council as much notice as possible.
You may find it helpful if your solicitor has a copy of your lease, together with any five year binding estimates of service charges, details of routine and major service charges over recent years, and any consultation notices for work about to be carried out.
When your lease is assigned, all service arrears, including deferred loans, must be cleared on completion of the sale. The council will not be party to the apportionment of outstanding service charges between leaseholders and purchasers. It is your responsibility to ensure that your solicitor resolves this and having done so, retains sufficient monies for charges no yet billed.
Repayment of discounts
When you purchased your lease direct from the council with the benefit of a discount, the council will have informed you that if you were to sell your property within the first three years you would be required to repay some or all of the discount. The monies are repayable from the proceeds of the sale. The proportion of the discount, which you would have to pay on the resale, would be:
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