Your lease
What's in your lease? An overview
You can get advice on your lease from The Leasehold Advisory Service – a government funded independent organisation that provides free legal advice to leaseholders.
Your lease is an important document – if you don’t have a copy you can order one from the Land Registry.
For more details, visit the Land Registry website.
Your rights and responsibilities
Your exact rights and responsibilities depend on your lease, but a general list can be found in the following document. If you have a question about your rights and responsibilities, please contact us.
Extending your lease
You have the right to extend your lease as long as you meet the qualifying criteria:
- your flat must be held under a long lease, i.e. a lease that was granted for more than 21 years
- you must have owned the flat for more than two years
You may be eligible to extend your lease for an additional 90 years - on top of what is left. For example, if you have seven years left on your lease, you may be given a new lease of 97 years.
You should contact a solicitor before taking any action to extend your lease. Your solicitor will need to send us notice to extend your lease or enfranchise.
You will have to repay our costs of getting a valuation and negotiating and granting a new lease to you or selling the freehold.
Breaches of your lease
Where there is a persistent breach of any term of the lease, we can apply to the court for forfeiture of your lease. If forfeiture is granted, you would lose your home and any value that is in the property.
We would only do this in exceptional circumstances and where a persistent breach of the lease occurs. We will always send you notice of our intention, giving you an opportunity to correct the breach before we make our application for forfeiture.
Ordering a copy of your lease
Always keep your lease in a safe place, so that you can refer to it when you need to. If you need a copy of your lease you can:
- Buy one from the Land Registry Service
- Ask your mortgage lender for a copy (you may be asked to pay an administration fee)
You may be asked to pay a fee for these services.
Common terms in your lease
Your lease is a legal document and so uses legal terms. Some of the more common terms are explained here:
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Lessee
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Is you, as the owner of the leasehold for your property.
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Lessor
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Is the Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets i.e. the council, who owns the freehold of your property. Tower Hamlets Homes manages the freehold on behalf of the council.
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Sub-lessee
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The person to whom you grant a lease or tenancy i.e. your tenant.
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The Estate
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All of the land, including gardens, flats, garages, parking spaces, stores and paths for the common use of residents.
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The Building
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The building or block of which your property is part.
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The Flat (sometimes called the demised premises)
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This is your property i.e. the flat number and building name.
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Fixtures and Fittings
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This refers to all the non-structural items included in the purchase of a property, such as kitchen and bathroom units, light fittings and worktops.
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Financial Year or Accounting Period
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The period from 1st April in each year to 31st March in the following year.
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Gross Rateable Value (GRV)
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The value assigned to your property by the District Valuer.
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Term
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126 years (Greater London Council – GLC lease) or 125 years (London Borough of
Tower Hamlets – LBTH lease).
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What laws apply to leases?
Leasehold properties are governed by lots of different regulations. We’ve listed a brief outline.
Landlord and Tenant Act 1985(As amended) section 18-22
- section 18 – defines what is a service charge
- section 19 – talks about the reasonableness of charges (both reasonableness of cost, and reasonable standard of works charged for)
- section 20 – sets out the way we must consult with you on major repairs and improvements and the timescales for invoicing you for works and more
- section 21 – sets out that we must provide you with a regular statement of account and the format that it must be in, it also sets out when a service charge can be withheld and what documents should accompany any demand for payment
- section 22 – sets out your rights to inspect the supporting documents used to calculate your service charge
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 section 71-178
- sections 71-113 – sets out the details of the right to manage
- sections 114 - 128 – set outs the details of leasehold enfranchisement (i.e. when leaseholders buy the freehold from their landlord)
- sections 129 -136 – sets out the right to renew your lease
- sections 137 -149 – talks about leasehold houses and is not relevant to any of our housing stock
- sections 150 – 155 – updates and improves the rights formally given to you under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 has been amended to include these improvements)
- sections 167-172 – set out the rules for forfeiture of lease
Landlord and Tenant Act 1985(As amended) section 18-22
- section 18 – defines what a service charge is
- section 19 – talks about the reasonableness of charges (both reasonableness of cost, and reasonable standard of works charged for)
- section 20 – sets out the way we must consult with you on major repairs and improvements and the timescales for invoicing you for works and more
- section 21 – sets out that we must provide you with a regular statement of account and the format that it must be in, it also sets out when a service charge can be withheld and what documents should accompany any demand for payment
- section 22 – sets out your rights to inspect the supporting documents used to calculate your service charge
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 section 71-178
- sections 71-113 – sets out the details of the right to manage
- sections 114 - 128 – set outs the details of leasehold enfranchisement (i.e. when leaseholders buy the freehold from their landlord)
- sections 129 -136 – sets out the right to renew your lease
- sections 137 -149 – talks about leasehold houses and is not relevant to any of our housing stock
- sections 150 – 155 – updates and improves the rights formally given to you under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 has been amended to include these improvements)
- sections 167-172 – set out the rules for forfeiture of lease