Your lease is an important legal contract between you, as the shared owner, and Hastoe, as your landlord. When you bought your home, your solicitor should have clearly explained your lease and what it means for you. It is important that you understand your financial and maintenance responsibilities as a shared owner. If you are unsure about anything in your lease, you should seek independent legal advice.
We are happy to answer any general questions, but we cannot give you any advice or interpret your lease for you.
What is a lease?
A lease protects both you and the landlord by setting out what everyone has agreed to. The lease outlines:
- Who owns the freehold
- Who owns the leasehold (and for how long)
- Financial obligations
- Repair and maintenance obligations
- Rules about how you can use your home, such as subletting, pets and alterations
Your lease is the legal document that proves your part ownership and your right to use and live in your home, within its terms.
Who owns the freehold of the property?
Hastoe owns the freehold of the building and, in most cases, the land the property is built on.
Whose name is on the lease?
If a property is brand new, the first owner’s name will be on the lease. This will never change.
If you bought your home from another person, the lease will have been ‘assigned’ to you for the remainder of the original term. You will have received a Notice of Assignment, which confirms that you have purchased the lease and shows how much time is left on it. Although the original owner’s name will remain on the original lease, your name will appear on a Land Registry register. The register works together with the lease to confirm you as the current leaseholder.
How long do I own the leasehold for?
If you bought your home from Hastoe as the first sale, your lease will be for a period of 99 years, 125 years or 990 years. As your lease gets shorter over time, you may eventually need to carry out a lease extension.
What other information does the lease contain?
The lease also describes the home that you have bought and includes plans showing details of any garden, shed or garage. It will also explain your rights, if any, over communal areas.
Leases differ depending on the year they were issued, but each will be split into sections, known as schedules. Each schedule refers to specific rights, responsibilities and/or obligations. These are:
- The Premises: This explains which parts of the property you own and are responsible for, such as walls and floors.
- Mutual Covenants: These are the obligations for you to adhere to. They help ensure the property is used properly and cover issues such as anti-social behaviour or illegal activity.
- Easement Rights & Privileges: This section explains access rights, including utilities and walkways. It explains Hastoe’s rights for access if required and your rights to use communal areas.
- Exceptions & Reservations: This allows Hastoe, as your landlord, to access your home when needed to make sure it is being used in line with the lease, as detailed in the mutual covenants.
- Rent Review: Your rent will increase each year. This section will detail how the increase is calculated.
- Staircasing: If your lease allows you to buy more shares in your home, this section will contain the legal guidelines for doing this.
- Defined Terms: This is a list of legal terms, along with their meanings.
- Assignment of whole to nomination purchaser: This gives Hastoe the right to nominate a purchaser when you choose to sell your home. There may also be a set time period for Hastoe to do this.
Please note that not all these sections will be in every lease as they are reviewed and updated over time.
How do I know what parts are mine?
Your lease includes a plan of your home showing its boundaries. These areas are usually outlined with red lines. There may also be another plan showing any communal areas that you may help pay to maintain. You may find ‘T’ marks on the plans; these show which boundaries you are responsible for.
What am I responsible for?
As a shared owner, you have a self-repairing lease. This means that, after the first year following construction, you are responsible for maintaining all parts of the property, including boilers and heating.
Your lease will explain this in detail, but generally you are responsible for repairing or replacing:
- Floors and ceilings inside your home
- Internal walls
- Doors and door frames
- Window glass
- Fixtures and fittings (for example, kitchen units and baths)
- Pipes, drains and wiring that serve only your home
- Redecoration, including plastering
- Your garden, shed and fence panels
- Gas and other safety checks.
Responsibilities can vary depending on the lease, so it is important to read yours carefully.
If your lease was granted after April 2021, you may be entitled to a repairs allowance. This is a contribution of £500 a year, for the first 10 years, to help with essential repairs.
What do I pay my service charges for?
Your service charges cover the cost of maintaining and managing shared and communal areas. This can include:
- Structural parts of joint or communal areas
- Lights, lifts and electrical fittings in any communal areas
- Communal drains, tanks, pipes and wiring
- External decoration if your home is in a block
- Estate management, such as gardening of communal areas
- Reserve funds
- Communal repairs and upkeep.
Can I make improvements or alterations to my home?
Your home is yours to decorate as you wish internally. However, before carrying out any internal or external changes, you should seek written permission from Hastoe. Carrying out work without permission is a serious breach of your lease. If you are unsure whether permission is needed, please contact us before starting any work.
Can I let out my property or rent out my spare room?
You are not allowed to move out of the property and rent it to someone else. If you wish to rent out a spare room to someone else, this may be allowed as long as:
- You are living in the property as well.
- It is on a long-term basis (over 6 months)
- It is not used for holiday lets or Airbnb
- It does not cause any nuisance to neighbours
- It does not cause overcrowding or safety issues
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and you must get written permission from Hastoe before renting out a room.
Can I extend the length of my lease?
Can I have pets?
If you own a house, we are happy for you to have pets, provided they are not a nuisance to others. The number of pets allowed will depend on the property you own.
In flats, no dogs or cats are allowed, unless the property has its own private garden and separate entrance.
You must seek written permission from Hastoe before getting a pet.
Can I install a satellite dish/Sky/cable?
We will review each request on a case-by-case basis. In most leases, Hastoe owns the roof and roof space, which means installing a satellite dish requires prior written permission.
You will also need to check with your local council’s planning office to see if they have any restrictions on this.
What is staircasing?
Staircasing is the term given to buying further shares of your home. Some properties, particularly those in rural areas, are limited to staircasing to a maximum of 80%. This information will have been provided to you when you bought the property and will also be listed in the lease.
How do I sell my home?
Your lease states that Hastoe has a period of time in which to market your property and to find you a buyer. During this time, you are not permitted to instruct an estate agent. If Hastoe finds a suitable buyer for your home, Hastoe charges an administration fee. If Hastoe is unable to find a suitable buyer within the timeframe provided, Hastoe will inform you that we will continue marketing your home but you can instruct an estate agent to sell the property on your behalf. Any potential buyers recommended by the estate agent must be approved by Hastoe.
What insurance do you need?
There are two types of home insurance policies:
- Buildings insurance protects against damage to the structure of the home, together with fixtures and fittings. This is provided by Hastoe. When you buy your home, we automatically provide buildings insurance cover which you pay for through your service charge.
- Home contents insurance protects you against damage or loss of your possessions. You will need to organise this. We do not insure the contents of your home. For your own peace of mind, we strongly recommend that you take out our own home contents insurance. We cannot deal with claims for compensation for damage to your belongings if your are not insured.
Meanings of common words used in your lease:
Assignment: When a property changes ownership and the lease is put into a new name.
Breach: When one of the rules within the lease is broken.
Communal areas: Shared places or areas available for use by all residents or neighbours.
Conveyance plan: A document detailing what you are purchasing.
Covenants: The rules and responsibilities set out in the lease.
Deed of variation: A document that changes or updates a clause in the original lease.
Defects: Any faults or issues found in a new-build dwelling within the first 12 months following its completion.
Easement: The legal right of way over your land or someone else’s.
Forfeiture: Where we (Hastoe) repossess your lease following a breach of the lease terms, for example due to non-payment of rent or service charges.
Freeholder: The person or company who owns the land your home is built on.
Header lease: Where the property is built on land that we (Hastoe) have leased ourselves.
Land Registry: The government agency that holds records of land ownership.
Lease: A legal document outlining all agreements between a buyer and a seller.
Lease extension: An agreement to make the length of your lease longer.
Lessee/Leaseholder: The person who has purchased the lease (you).
Lessor/Landlord: The owner of the freehold (usually Hastoe).
Mortgagee/Lender: The person or bank lending the money to buy a home.
Mortgage protection clause: An agreement that the mortgage will be paid in full before anyone else receives funds following repossession or sale of the property.
Mortgagor: The person who has taken out the mortgage to buy a home (you).
New build: A brand-new property that has just been built.
Nominations agreement: An agreement between Hastoe and the local authority showing who gets priority for the homes and any local connection requirements.
Notice of charge: A document notifying Land Registry of your ownership and any mortgage on the property.
Notice of transfer: A document that transfers the ownership of a home to someone else.
Perpetuity clause: A requirement that, if you own 100% of your home and have owned it for less than 21 years, you must inform Hastoe of your intentions to sell.
Repossession: When a mortgage lender takes possession of your home due to arrears.
Resale: The sale of a shared ownership property by its current owner to someone else.
Restricted staircasing: A limit on the amount of the property you can buy.
Section 106 (S106): A contract between Hastoe and the local planning authority stating what we can build and what it can be used for.
Service charge: A regular charge paid by the homeowner towards the cost of maintaining and managing shared services and communal areas.
Staircasing: The procedure of buying additional shares of your home over time.
Term of years: The total length of the lease.
Terms of a lease: The specific rights and obligations set out in the lease.
Title deeds: Records held by the Land Registry that show who owns a piece of land or property.
Undertaking: A commitment made by any party involved in the property transaction.
