home sales

Buying or selling a home on the open market

Before you buy or sell a leasehold property, your solicitor may request information about the property you are buying or selling. If this is the case, we will provide them with a resale information pack, which includes the following information:

• Property details, such as the number of bedrooms/number of flats in the block
• Total amounts unpaid for day to day service charges, external decorations and major work
• Details of any major works planned in the next 12 months
• A list of section 20 notices for major works issued to the leaseholder where invoices have yet to be raised
• Certificates of actual service charges for three years and the estimated statement for the current year.

We do charge for providing this information. At present, the charge is £176.25 (£150 + VAT), payable in advance.

The two solicitors acting for you will use the information above to decide who pays for what. They agree these matters between themselves, and the landlord (the council) has no involvement.

We advise all buyers and vendors of leasehold properties to obtain this information pack.

Remortgage

When remortgaging a leasehold property, the financial institution you have requested a remortgage from may need you to supply confirmation of the balance of your service charge account and a copy of the buildings insurance schedule. At present the charge is £35.25 (£30 + VAT), payable in advance.

Subletting

This section contains information of interest to leaseholders who are subletting out (that is renting) or thinking of subletting out their leasehold property. The Homes Sales team is responsible for sending registration packs to leaseholders and for registering sublets.

Approximately 27% of leaseholders are known to be subletting. Registration of your sublet with us is required under the terms of the lease agreement and it is also important for us to know exactly which properties are sublet and to have contact details for both leaseholders and their tenants. You need to provide details of your tenants and managing agent/housing association. Registration is free.

Naturally, this requirement to register may raise questions such as:

• Why do I have to register the sublet with you?
• Do I have to register if I rent my property to members of my family?What if I don’t register the sublet?
• What if I get new tenants or my contact details change?

All these questions and many more are answered in our Frequently Asked Questions section.

If you are subletting your flat, please complete the sublet registration form and return it to the Home Ownership team. We will notify the Insurance section that your sublet has been registered.

Please note that following discussions with the Leasehold Panel, we agreed that there would be no administration fee for registering sublet properties.