Your lease

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Your lease is the legal contract between you and One Housing.

Usually your lease covers things like:

• how and when to pay service charge (and your rent if you are a shared owner)
• your responsibilities towards repairs and maintenance
• for shared owners, how to buy more shares
• what happens if you want to sell your property
• alterations and home improvements
• insurance
• grounds to terminate the contract.

Please check your own lease to see the specific details of your agreement.

Your responsibilities

When you agree to the lease, you're agreeing to the terms contained within that lease. A typical residential lease would provide for the following:

• to provide access for required works
• to pay all costs related to any application for forfeiture
• to pay all related service charges which include those for works to your building or estate
• not to alter the premises without necessary permission and consents
• not to put any signs or name writing in the windows
• not to cause noise or other nuisance
• to only park private vehicles on the estate
• to ask permission to keep pets
• not to cause any damage to the building
• not to erect aerials without permission
• to use the property as a private residential dwelling
• to get permission for any assignment or subletting
• to pay us for making good any damage caused by visitors or friends
• not to do anything that may invalidate the building insurance
• not to cause any obstruction to common parts or allow visitors or friends to cause an obstruction.

Our responsibilities

We must:

• allow you ‘quiet enjoyment’ of your home. (This doesn't mean entirely noise-free, but a right to live reasonably undisturbed in your property and to use the property for the purpose granted)
• maintain the building structure and any shared areas
• insure the building.

We can also appoint managing agents and use contractors to carry out works. We pass on a share of the costs of these responsibilities to our leaseholders as a service charge.

Section 20 consultation

Under the terms of your lease, you must pay towards the cost of services or work carried out to your building or estate. Under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 we must consult you when we're looking to tender for new contracts for maintenance or works to your building or estate. We must consult you before we do any of the following:

• Carry out work that will cost any one leaseholder more than £250. This includes repairs, maintenance and improvements to your building and estate.
• Enter into a long-term agreement (for more than 12 months) with outside contractors that will cost any one leaseholder more than £100 a year. This could include things such as servicing lifts, cleaning and environmental services.
• Carry out work under a long-term agreement where the work will cost any one leaseholder more than £250.

What if I don’t understand my lease?

Your solicitor will have explained your lease to you when you bought your home but if you have any questions, please contact us on 0300 123 9966 or email ask.onehousing.co.uk