Leaseholders

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 can be found 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.

Current leaseholders

If you are a current leaseholder you can use The Digital Leaseholder Forum, an online meeting where we keep you up to date with the management of your home, and discuss any changes with you.

It’s also an opportunity for us to get your feedback, which helps make sure we’re improving the service we provide to you.

To join the forum, visit www.trello.com to set up your account (you just need to verify your account with Trello to become an active member). You then need to email us using the form below with your user name/email address and confirmation of your address and then we’ll send you the invitation to the forum – simple!











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    Leaseholder charges – frequently asked questions

    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 should usually be made within 28 days of receiving your service charge demand.

    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.

    Please send enquiries like this through our contact us page.

    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 (ForHousing as the 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 properties.

    The services you pay for may change but only if services to the property / block change.