My lease

Each lease is different, so you should always refer to your lease for information specific to your home.

As a leaseholder, you are generally responsible for:

• maintaining the inside of your home
• making sure you get permission before carrying out home improvements, renting out your home or getting a pet
• making sure that you, or any household members, visitors, or tenants if you sub-let the property, do not do anything which may cause nuisance to others
• paying your rent, service charges and contributing to a reserve fund

Your lease might also say you are responsible for maintaining and repairing the outside of your home, contributing to the costs of managing the neighbourhood your home is in, and/or paying ground rent.

We are usually responsible for providing buildings insurance and maintaining the shared communal and external areas as well as managing your service charge and reserve funds.

Your lease may include some unfamiliar words, so we have provided a description of what some key terms mean below.

Demise or demised premises

Your lease sets out what you own, which is known as the demise or demised premises. If you live in an apartment for example, you may own everything within but none of the exterior, as communal areas and green spaces are usually for shared use by all occupants. So, the apartment would be your demised premises.

Reserve fund or sinking fund

If we are responsible for maintaining any elements of the building you live in, including communal areas or green spaces, you will be responsible for the cost of major works such as a roof replacement.

Where a lease allows us to collect funds from you, these will be placed in a reserve fund or sinking fund to cover the cost of these works in advance of them being carried out.

Lessor and lessee

Onward is classed as the lessor, as your landlord or freeholder. You are classed as the lessee, as the leaseholder or property owner.

Easement

Where needed, an easement will be granted to you within your lease.   For example, if you need to use a pathway that you do not own to access your property, your lease will include an easement.

Covenant

A covenant is an obligation from one party to the other. For example, a ‘covenant’ may be in place whereby we must provide buildings insurance, and you must pay a service charge.

Service charge

If we perform duties or provide services which incur costs, we will recover the cost from you via a service charge.

You can learn more about service charges on our website.

When purchasing your home through a leasehold arrangement, you will have the right to occupy it for a set number of years. This is known as the term, which is normally over a 99- or 125-year period.

Most leaseholders choose to extend their lease when the term drops below 80 years, however you can extend at any time. Under freehold and leasehold property legislation, you have the statutory right to extend your lease for an addition 90 years. For example, if your lease has 70 years left and you choose to extend, the term will increase to 160 years.

Should you not wish to extend your lease, at the end of the term you will hand your property back to us.

If you are a shared owner, the right to a lease extension does not apply, however, we will consider lease extensions on a case-by-case basis. To find out more, please take a look at our guide.

Your lease gives you certain rights that are protected by law. These may include the following.

Right to Manage (RTM)

RTM allows some leaseholders to take over the management of their building. Where a group of leaseholders choose to exercise this right, we will provide the information and documents required.

To qualify, your building must meet certain conditions, and a minimum number of leaseholders are required to take part. The process can be complicated, so you will need to seek your own independent advice and consider the costs associated with RTM.

Right to Inspect

Under Section 22 (S22) of the Landlord and Tenant Act, you have the right to inspect documents relating to your service charges within a period of six-months from the receipt of your end of year accounts.

You can make a request to inspect documents by serving us with a S22 notice. More information about the S22 process can be found on our website.

Enfranchisement

If your property is in a qualifying building, you may have the right to enfranchisement, which means that you can buy the freehold of the building.

To qualify, the building and leaseholders must meet certain conditions. Leaseholders will need to seek their own independent advice and consider the costs associated with enfranchisement.

The Right to Sell

We will provide initial advice and guidance if you wish to sell your home. We will:

• be clear about our role in the re-sale
• communicate with the appropriate partners involved in the sale when required
• provide information to solicitors when requested
• charge a reasonable fee where appropriate

If you purchased your home using the Preserved Right to Buy or Right to Acquire, you can sell your home at any time but may have to pay back some or all of any discount you received if you sell within the first 10 years.