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Should you wish to sublet your property, most Leases state that you need to obtain consent and that the sub-tenant should enter into a 'direct deed of covenant' to ensure the sub-tenant complies with the general terms and regulations contained within the Lease. A standard application form can be sent to you upon request.
In order to protect the other residents in the building and to comply with the terms of the Lease, references are required and the letting must be to a specific person. You are required to pay reasonable solicitor's costs for the preparation and completion of the 'deed of covenant' and an administration cost to us for dealing with this matter. These fees are set out within the application form.
We collect Service Charges in line with legal documents i.e. your Lease. However, you may be able to pay by monthly instalments in certain circumstances. Should you wish to find out more information or to take advantage of this, please contact our Credit Control team on 01582 393700.
Yes. As the owner of the property when the invoice was issued, the payment is due from you in full. You should request a receipt when you pay as your solicitor will require this. They will seek a refund from your purchaser or a contribution to the cost you have incurred. If you are completing a sale prior to the beginning of the invoice period, please pass the invoice to your solicitor so that they become aware and can allow for it. For most sales, solicitors write to us asking if there are any payments outstanding. If your account is not paid up to date it is possible this may delay your sale.
This usually occurs when a sale has taken place and your solicitor has not registered the assignment with us as required by your Lease. You should contact your solicitor immediately to ensure that the position is corrected.
Until registration has taken place, we are unable to amend the record relating to your property. However, as the owner, you are still responsible for the charges and should pay these even though you may be resolving matters with your solicitor.
In the first instance, you should make contact with the flat above. Quite often, they are unaware of the fault and may rectify the problem straight away. Should you experience difficulty making contact with the offending flat, please contact the customer services team who will attempt to contact the owner of the property, advising them that there is a leak. Regrettably, we are not authorised to carry out any repairs to pipe work falling within the responsibility of individual owners.
Should there be any damage caused to your property and you wish to make a claim on the block buildings insurance, please contact our customer services team who will provide you with the necessary information.
Noise from TVs, stereos, party guests leaving the property etc. can be very frustrating, particularly late at night. Persistent noise nuisance is best dealt with by your local Environmental Health Department who have the necessary powers to deal with this and whose involvement usually provides the speediest resolution.
Regrettably, we cannot protect a resident's individual parking space. If any vehicle parks upon it, the only person who can take action is the leaseholder who owns that space. Please contact customer services for further information 0845 450 6022 (lo-call).
If you purchase a freehold property, you will own the home and the land it is built upon. There may however be a freehold company who own the estate areas, such as communal car parking or garden areas. By contrast, if you buy a leasehold property you are actually buying the rights to live in a property for a specified period of time. You will not actually own the structure or the grounds it is situated upon. Most flats are leasehold.
Some leases have an absolute ban on any pets, or certain specified animals. Other leases allow pets provided consent is obtained beforehand. In these cases a written consent is required.
Where you wish to have a cat or dog, please write to us for consent. In the case of a dog, we would normally require a photograph to ensure that it is a breed which is consistent with living in such a property. The written consent is given subject to what are termed 'good neighbour' conditions, details of which can be obtained from our customer service team.
There is often an adjustment to the service charge after the accounting year-end as it is unlikely that our estimate will exactly equal the amount expended during the year. This adjustment can be a credit if we over estimate or a debit if we under estimate. If we under-estimate an invoice will be sent to you for the balance due. However, if we over-estimate, the adjustment will be credited to your account and can reduce future invoices.
As the current owner, you are now liable for making this payment. However, your solicitor should have made arrangements to cover this contingency, usually by retaining an amount of the money due to the vendor (the person who sold the property to you). You should check this with your solicitor.
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