Help and FAQs

Leasehold is the system in place for the long-term exclusive right to live in and maintain a property for a fixed amount of time (usually 99 or 125 years) also known as the “Term”. The overall ownership remains with the Freeholder sometimes referred to as the Landlord, in leases. As a long Leaseholder you have bought the exclusive right to live in and maintain your property for a fixed number of years. The structure and common parts of the building containing flats remains under the Freeholder/Landlord’s ownership. Please note we do not manage leasehold houses.

The lease is a legally binding contract between a Leaseholders and a Freeholder containing covenants that dictate what the Leaseholder can, can’t, and must do during their term as Leaseholder. It also dictates what the Freeholder/ Landlord can, can’t and must do. For the managing agent, the lease sets out what we need to do and/or arrange on behalf of our client and what our client needs to do for you, the leaseholder.

A Leaseholder is literally the holder of the lease. As a Leaseholder you are responsible for obligations laid out in your lease including paying service charge (see financial questions) and maintaining everything within your flat. This usually includes pipe-works that serve solely that flat, windows and the flat’s front door. For more details please read your lease – if you do not have a copy of your lease, you can obtain one from the land registry website.

The Leaseholder’s responsibilities are laid out more specifically in the lease.

The freeholder is the person or company that owns the land the property is situated on and the external and communal parts of the property. This will normally include the gardens and the communal internal areas. It is these areas where the freeholder is obligated (by the terms of the lease) to maintain on your behalf. In return you as the leasholder are obligated to pay for these works through the service charge, again which is a covenant of the lease.

A managing agent is a person or company hired by the freeholder to act on their behalf and to carry out their obligations under the terms of the lease. The freeholder is therefore our client and we ultimately take instructions from them on how the property is managed. We will usually be responsible for producing a budget, collecting service charges and ground rent, organizing gardening, cleaning, window cleaning, arranging repairs and major works such as replacement roofs etc.

You will need written permission from your Freeholder (a licence to alter) as they are required to ensure that the proposed works do not affect the structure of the building or the rights of other Leaseholders. You must always seek consent when the lease requires you to do so.

Many people are confused about the role of a managing agent. One of the things were are most contacted about is leaks between flats. As we only manage the communal areas of the flats, a flat to flat leak is outside of our remit. Therefore we can only pass this on to blocks insurers who normally have a specialized department to deal with this.

We are often contacted by tenants of flats with regards maintenance issues or complaints. However we can only take instructions from the flat owner (leaseholder).

We have no contract with Tenants and therefore cannot take instruction from them, we will take a report but cannot action a request unless it comes from the Leaseholder or an authorised representative (partner or letting agents) as the service charge is paid by the Leaseholder.

As we do not hold Tenant details (unless the are provided by the Leaseholder) we cannot confirm they have any relationship with the block at all.

The freeholder and managing agents’ responsibilities stop at the front door to your flat. We only manage the communal areas of the building

When major works are required to your property you will hear the terms section 20 works. This is a reference to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which dictates that leaseholders must be consulted before any works which will cost any one leaseholder £250.

There are 3 stages to the section 20 process:

Stage 1 – Notice of Intention

This is a notice that lets Leaseholders know that works are needed and allows Leaseholders 30 days to make observations about the works proposed and also invites them to nominate a contractor they would like to quote on the proposed works.

After the 30 days, there will be a gap in which the works proposed will “go out to tender” meaning we will obtain quotes from nominated contractors who are given a deadline to quote – usually 4 weeks.

Stage 2 – Notice of Estimates

Once we have the quotes back in from contractors, we will send out the 2^nd notice to all Leaseholders which is a notice with quotations obtained. Leaseholders are again invited to make observations on these quotations within 30 days of the notice.

Once observations have been received, the Freeholder or managing agent acting on behalf of the Freeholder, will choose which contractor to instruct on the works based on the quotations and observations made by Leaseholders. If the chosen contractor is not the cheapest or is not one that was nominated, then the stage 3 notice will be served.

Stage 3 – Notice of Reasons

This is a notice which shows acknowledgement of the observations made and explains why the Freeholder/managing agent has chosen a contractor who was not nominated and not the cheapest. If the Freeholder does choose the cheapest contractor or a contractor that was nominated, they do not need to action stage 3, but it is best practice to let Leaseholders know which contractor was chosen.

For your peace of mind, a secure, dedicated client account has been opened for your property, and will be used to hold service charge payments on your behalf. This account is held in trust.

Any interest earned on these monies is credited to the service charge account. The account is held at the following branch of NatWest: Boscombe Central, Southampton Customer Service Cent, Brunswick Gate, 23 Brunswick Place, SO15 2AQ. There are no bank charges for keeping this account.

The service charge are the funds required under the terms of the lease for the maintenance and management and sometimes insurance in order we can manage the block.

The amount of service charge payable will depend on the terms in the lease and your apportionment and is based on the budget calculated for the property.

Ground rent is in effect what the leaseholder pays to the freeholder to rent the ground the property is built on. Ground rents run throughout the term of the lease and can be anything from zero (peppercorn) to £300 per annum.

The reserve fund is usually detailed in the lease and is essentially a savings account used to build reserves of cash for future repairs and improvements.

The freeholder insures the building and the premium is either split equally between the flats or as apportioned in the lease.

The freeholder however does not insure the contents of your flat and you must make your own arrangements in the regard.

In the first instance please check the policy wording which is available on your online portal. If you are not registered on the portal please email our office. Details of the claims procedure is usually noted on each the policy.