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• What is a lease agreement?

  Your lease is a legal agreement between you (the leaseholder) and us (the freeholder). The lease gives you rights over land and buildings that make up your property for a limited period. This period is known as the term of your lease.

  Our leases run for 99 or 125 years. When this period runs out, we take back the rights over the land and buildings.

  If you bought your property before 1980, your lease will be for 99 years from the date you first bought your home. By law, we did not have to sell our properties at this time.

  The Housing Act 1980 introduced the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme. Under this scheme, local authorities had to sell council properties to qualifying tenants who wanted to buy their homes. Because of the rules of the scheme, we sold leasehold properties with 125-year leases. The length of lease you have will depend on the date you bought your property.

  If you bought your property with a 125-year lease, as your landlord, we have to provide certain services and you must pay routine service charges for these. As well as the routine service charges, we will also send you a bill for your share of the cost of any major work we carry out to your block or estate (if relevant).

  Because your lease is a legal document it is written in legal terms and this means that it is not easy to read. The following summary of the sections of your lease may help you to understand it better.

• What information does a leasehold include?

  The opening section

  This section includes the main details of the lease, including:

  • Who the lease is between
  • How much you are paying for the lease
  • Other regular payments you must make.

  The first schedule

  This section defines what is included in your lease. There is a map showing your property, the building it is in, and the location of any shed or parking bay you may have.

  The second schedule

  This section explains your rights under the lease. This includes your right to use the shared parts of the building and the water, gas and electricity services.

  The third schedule

  This section explains our rights under the lease, including our right to enter your home to inspect the property. In some cases we may have to enter your home to do repairs or improvement work - for example to repair a fault on the shared television aerial.

  The fourth schedule

  This section explains that if you sell your leasehold property within five years of buying it through the Right to Buy scheme, you’ll need to repay all or part of the discount you received.

  The fifth schedule

  This section explains your responsibilities under the lease, including the:

  • Charges you have to pay
  • Repairs you have to carry out.
  • Conditions you must keep to.

  The sixth schedule

  This section explains our responsibilities under the lease. For example, we must:

  • Maintain and look after shared parts of the building
  • Make sure that the building is properly insured. 

  This schedule also covers items you will have to pay for and tells you the times during the year when we send out accounts. 

  The seventh schedule

  This section gives more details about service charges. It tells you what services you have to pay for.

  • Part one lists regular services such as cleaning and landscaping.
  • Part two lists services we provide when needed, for example painting the outside of buildings.
  • Part three explains how we charge for replacing lifts (if there is a lift in your building).

  The final part of the lease

  This is the section of the lease that you and we sign. When you sign your lease you are agreeing to keep to the conditions of the lease agreement. When we sign the lease we are agreeing to carry out our responsibilities under the agreement. Once you and we have signed the lease it forms a legal agreement.  

• Your rights as a leaseholder

  The lease sets out the part of the building which is your home and your rights to use the shared areas of the block or estate.

  There are a number of laws protecting your rights as a leaseholder. If you are not sure of your rights, you can ask a solicitor or Citizens Advice for help. You may also find the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) a useful source of information. LEASE is funded by the Government to provide free legal advice to leaseholders, landlords, professional advisers, managers and others on the law affecting leaseholders.

  The main Acts of Parliament covering leasehold tenancies are as follows:

  • Housing Act 1985
  • Landlord and Tenants Act 1985 and 1987
  • Housing and Planning Act 1986
  • Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
  • Housing Act 1996
  • Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

  You can find useful information relating to the relevant sections of these acts on the LEASE website or you can ask to borrow a copy of the acts at your local library (there may be a charge for this). 

• Your responsibilities as a leaseholder

  As leaseholder, you must:

  • Pay your ground rent and service charges, and any bills we send you for major work, when they are due. 
  • Pay a fair share of our expenses for providing repairs, maintenance, insurance and services to the building and shared areas. 
  • Repay the discount (or a portion of it) you received when you bought your home under the Right to Buy scheme, if you sell the property within five years.
  • Get our written approval before making any alterations or additions to the structure of your home.
  • Keep the walls, pipes, cables, wires, fixtures and fittings and gas appliances inside your home in good repair and condition.
  • Allow us to carry out inspections or repairs to your home, other parts of the building or to your neighbours’ properties. We will give you at least 48 hours’ notice if we need to come into your home (except in emergencies).
  • Tell us, within one calendar month, if you transfer the lease or mortgage, or sublet any part of your home.
  • Avoid damaging the property or being a nuisance to other residents. This applies to anything you (and members of your family, visitors or pets) do or do not do.
  • Not keep more than one animal as a domestic pet or keep any animals other than domestic pets. (This applies to leases that started after 20 April 2006. If your lease started before this date, you are allowed to keep two domestic animals as pets.)
  • Keep any private garden properly maintained.
  • Only use the property as a private home for a single family to live in.
  • Keep to the terms and conditions in your lease. 
• Our rights as your landlord

  As your landlord, we have the right to:

  • Decide how your block is managed (following consultation).
  • Repair, maintain and improve the structure and shared areas of the block (following consultation).
  • Enter your home without permission (if we can't contact you) to carry out essential repairs needed to prevent injury or extensive damage to property in an emergency.
  • Enter your home to carry out inspections or repairs to your flat or other parts of the building, or to your neighbours’ properties. We will give you at least 48 hours’ notice (except in emergencies). 
• Our responsibilities as your landlord

  We have a duty to:

  • Keep the main structure and outside of your home in good condition. This includes the:
    • roof
    • outside walls
    • structural walls inside shared areas
    • balcony railings
    • foundations
    • chimney stacks
    • gutters and rainwater and soil pipes.
  • Ensure the building is insured to restore it to its original condition after damage or destruction. You don’t need buildings insurance, but we recommend getting contents insurance for your belongings.
  • Manage your block or estate in a proper and reasonable way.
  • Consult leaseholders before starting major building works.
  • Maintain estate and block lighting - for example, in entrance halls and stairways (where provided).
  • Keep shared facilities in good condition (where we provide these). This includes:
    • water tanks
    • loft spaces
    • drains
    • rubbish chutes
    • lifts
    • door-entry systems
    • television aerials. 
• If you break the terms of your leasehold agreement

  First, we will contact you to try to resolve the issue.

  If we can’t reach an agreement after negotiating, we may apply to the court to end your lease. If the court decides you've broken the terms of your lease, it may allow us to revoke it. This means that we would take back the property and end your lease. However, we aim to resolve the matter before it gets to this stage.

  As a leaseholder, you would not want to lose the value of your investment, but you should be aware that this is legally possible. You will also have to pay our legal costs and any other costs caused by breaking your lease agreement.

• Selling your leasehold property

  You do not need our permission to sell your home. However, if you bought it through the Right to Buy scheme, you will have to repay all or some of the discount you received if you sell within five years. (The amount is a percentage of the property's current value, minus the value of any improvements you have made.)

  If you sell within the first 10 years of Right To Buy, you must offer us the chance to buy the property back (known as the right of first refusal). To do this, contact our Legal Services team:

  • Email: legalpost@dacorum.gov.uk
  • Telephone: 01442 228000 and ask for “Legal Services”.

  Before moving out, you must pay any outstanding bills, including service charges, ground rent, and buildings insurance. Ask your solicitor to contact us before transferring the lease so we can settle any charges and confirm you’ve met the conditions for the transfer. The new owner's solicitor must tell our Legal Services Department once the new owner has taken over the lease. A fee applies for this process.

  To request an information pack (also known as a seller's or assignment pack), please apply online:

  Customer Services will work with your solicitors before the sale:

  • Email: customer.accounts@dacorum.gov.uk
  • Telephone: 01442 228000 and ask for "Customer Accounts"
• Extending your lease

  A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter, its value decreases, and extending it becomes more expensive. Selling a property with a short lease can also be difficult, as some mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend on such properties. 

  When a lease drops below 80 years, the cost to extend it increases because ‘marriage value’ applies. Marriage value is the increase in the flat's value due to the lease extension. 

  Extending a lease can be complicated, so we recommend hiring a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.  

  You can also get free, independent advice online from the Leasehold Advisory Service, a Government-funded organisation.

  We cannot advise you on lease extensions, due to a conflict of interest.

  We only offer the statutory 90-year lease extension under the Leasehold Reform and Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for our domestic leasehold properties. This ensures that all leases in a block, when extended, will end on the same date.

  How lease terms work

  • The first flat sold in a block sets the start of the 125-year lease for all flats in that block.
  • For example, if the first flat was sold through the Right to Buy scheme on 1 April 1990, its lease will end on 31 March 2115. Any flat sold later in the block will also have a lease ending on 31 March 2115, regardless of the sale date.
  • When any lease is extended in that block, an extra 90 years is added to the existing term.
  • In the example above, all extended leases in the block would end on 31 March 2205.

  Contact us to extend your lease

  Get in touch with our Estates team if you want to go ahead with a lease extension:

  • Email: es-estates@dacorum.gov.uk
  • Telephone: 01442 228000 and ask for “Estates”. 
• Buying the freehold

  If there are still council tenants in your block, you cannot buy the freehold. This is because we remain the landlord responsible for those tenants.

  If all the properties in the block are leasehold, you may be able to buy the freehold either individually or as a group of leaseholders forming a management company. The freeholder takes over responsibilities such as:

  • maintaining the building
  • arranging buildings insurance
  • other duties we currently manage.

  You should seek advice on the costs and process of buying the freehold.

  Leaseholders have the right to act together to buy the freehold of their building, if they meet certain conditions. This is called  "collective enfranchisement". There are specific procedures and timeslines you must follow.

  If you can’t agree on the price or terms with the freeholder, the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) can decide. You can also negotiate informally with us. However, if you choose this option, you cannot use the tribunal for disputes about the terms of the sale or price. The agreement you reach with us may be enforceable through a county court.

  Buying the freehold can be complicated. We advise speaking to a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.