Leasehold Properties

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Description

There are two ways you can become the leaseholder of a flat where the council is the freeholder:

through the right to buy. This gives most existing council tenants the right to buy the property they live in at a discounted price which is based on how long you have been a tenant in the public sector (local authority, housing associations etc); or
by buying the lease from the current leaseholder, who may or may not have originally bought the flat from us.

As a leaseholder, you have bought the right to live in your property for a fixed number of years - initially up to 125 - called the 'term'. Although the term is fixed at the start, it decreases every year until it expires and the ownership of the property returns to us, unless you apply to extend the lease.

As a leaseholder, you will normally own and be responsible for everything within the four walls of your property, with the exception of pipes and drains that also serve other properties. As your landlord (or 'freeholder' or 'lessor'), we remain the owner of the overall building and the land it stands on and remain responsible for the maintenance and repair of the structure and exterior of the building.

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