These are the main Acts of Parliament that cover your rights:
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Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985 and 1987
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Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
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Housing Act 1996
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Human Rights Act 1998
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Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002
You can read copies of these Acts at most public libraries.
Protecting money paid for services
As your landlord, we can only spend your money on the services we collected it for.
Consultation about spending on services
We must consult leaseholders or shared owners if:
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We want to do repairs or maintenance that will cost a leaseholder or shared owner more than £250
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We want to sign a contract for more than 12 months with a supplier to provide a service that will cost each leaseholder or shared owner more than £100 a year.
If we don’t consult you, you may have the legal right to refuse paying any charges above these amounts.
Right to challenge service charges
A leaseholder or shared owner has the right to question a service charge. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) is an independent organisation that will decide whether a service charge is reasonable and payable.
Right to information about service charges
A leaseholder or shared owner has the right to a statement each year that shows how much they’ve paid in service charges and how the money’s been spent.
Depending on your lease, we’ll send you a statement in January/February to let you know your service charges from April for the next 12 months. In September, we’ll send you another statement to let you know what you’ve paid since April and what you need to pay up to the following March. We’ll also send you statements every three months in between January/February and September, depending on your lease.
Right to information about insurance
A leaseholder or shared owner can ask for a summary of our building insurance policy for their home. We must provide it within 21 days. A leaseholder or shared owner also has the right to see the policy document and proof of payment for the insurance premium, or ask for copies. We must provide it within days and may make a small charge for the copies.
Right to challenge administration charges
Administration charges are different to rent or service charges and cover things like costs for permission to alter a flat, sublet your home and interest or late payment fees.
If we send you a bill for administration charges, we’ll include a letter that explains your rights.A leaseholder or shared owner has the right to challenge an administration charge through the LVT, whether they’ve paid the charge or not.
If the administration charge is worked out using a formula in the lease, a leaseholder or shared owner can ask the LVT for a court order to change the leases.
Ground rent
If we charge ground rent, we’ll send a statement that shows the cost. A leaseholder or shared owner has the right not to pay, if we don’t send a statement.
Protection against forfeiture
If a leaseholder or shared owner breaks their lease agreement, we could take legal action to repossess their home. This could be for not paying rent or service charges, for example. But, if the debt is less than £350 or money has been owed for less than three years, we can’t try to repossess the home without an order from a court or the LVT.
Right to manage
Leaseholders of a block of flats have the right to take over the management of their block. Speak to your solicitor or other legal advisor for advice.
Right to extend a lease
Most leaseholders have the right to force their landlord to agree to a new 90-year lease for a small rent on top of their existing lease. You must have owned your home for two years. The cost of the new lease is worked out using a legal formula. For shared owners, this right only applies if you own your home outright.
