Owning a leasehold interest in your home is simply a long tenancy. The lease is usually granted for either 99 or 125 years. When the lease time runs out, the home then belongs to us as the freehold owner of the land however, you have the right to extend the length of your lease. Please read the leaseholder frequently asked questions (FAQs) which you can find at the bottom of this page for more information.
As a leaseholder, you will own everything within your home. We will continue to own the building itself, communal areas and the land your home stands on.
All leaseholders receive an annual charge. These charges vary depending on the type of home you own but will include buildings insurance, ground rent and a management fee. If you live in a block of flats then you are likely to have to pay service charges for the repair and maintenance of the building itself, communal areas and the land your home stands on. You will also have to pay service charges for services carried out to any communal areas, for example cleaning. You may also have to pay for major works that are required to the block, for example roof replacement.
To find out how you can pay your service charges and other charges, check out the payments page.
We want to hear from you
Cheshire West and Chester Council have developed a new draft Engagement Strategy which sets out how they will work with ForHousing to engage with both tenants and leaseholders.
To support the delivery of this strategy, we are currently developing a range of opportunities for leaseholders to get involved and influence the services they receive.
If you are interested in hearing more about these opportunities, please do let us know by completing the online form.
Extending your lease
Most former Right to Buy leases were granted for a term of 125 years and your lease will provide the exact date.
Some leases now have a remaining term of 82 years or less and leaseholders may find it difficult to sell or remortgage. Applications for extension should be made to the Home Ownership Section. If you qualify the matter will be referred to the Council to process. Please be aware that you will need to pay the Council’s legal fees in addition to your own.
Costs to consider*:
- Council’s Legal Fees: £1000
- Council Surveyor’s Fee: £350
- Valuation Fee: to be confirmed by the Council via quotation
*Fees are reviewed annually after 1st April each year
Lease extension is a complex process and you are strongly advised to obtain independent legal advice.
Selling your flat or maisonette
If you wish to sell your former Council flat or maisonette you should consider the following:
- To sell within 10 years of buying you will be required to give the Council the right of first refusal to repurchase your home. If the Council does not wish to repurchase, you will require a Certificate of Compliance, the fee for which is currently £150.
- To sell within 5 year of buying you will be required to repay a percentage of the Right to Buy discount you received based upon the current selling price. An exact figure will be provided at the relevant time.
When you have secured a buyer it is likely that your buyer’s solicitor will request a Management Pack, often referred to as an LPE1 form. This document will disclose details of the lease to your buyer, the home and the annual service charge including ground rent. The fee for the form is currently £60 and is routinely paid for by the seller. Once the fee has been paid, the form will be returned within 28 days.
Service charges are payable by leaseholders to cover the costs of any services we provide to the block and surrounding areas where your home is situated to keep them in a good condition. Leaseholders pay for items such as buildings insurance, communal gardening, communal lighting, repairs and maintenance.
Service charges are made because we provide services to the block and surrounding areas where your home is. Your lease agreement will confirm which charges we are able to recover from you as a service charge.
Service charges are payable from the 1 April each year. Payments are due quarterly in advance on the first day of each quarter, on 1 April, 1 July, 1 October and 1 January.
You can choose to pay monthly by Direct Debit over 12 monthly instalments.
We look to send the estimate charges out before April each year.
You can pay service charges in full or in installments by cheque, BACs, Direct Debit etc.
If you are part of a block you will be charged a proportion of the overall costs of maintaining the block, for example, if you are one leaseholder in a block of four properties, you’ll be charged ¼ of the costs.
Buildings insurance is charged at the actual annual cost per property and leaseholders are on a separate insurance policy to tenants.
If you need help, please visit our contact us.
We will look into your enquiry and you will receive details once we’ve carried out the investigation and confirm if any changes need to be made.
Under the terms of the lease agreement, the freeholder (owner of the block) is responsible for insuring the building, however the cost will be recovered from you as the leaseholder. Therefore it is best that you cancel any buildings insurance policy you have of your own.
If you own 100% of the property through shared ownership you will no longer receive buildings insurance cover from us.
Contact us if you need to make a claim and we will provide you with the relevant details.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide contents insurance for leaseholders and shared ownership homes.
The services you pay for may change but only if services to the home / block change.
