Information for leaseholders
At Shepherds Bush Housing Association (SBHA) we have more than 600 leaseholders across the whole of west London. Almost all flats in England and Wales are leasehold, as are many houses.
As a leaseholder, you will normally own and be responsible for everything within the four walls of your property, with the exception of pipes and drains that also serve other properties. As your landlord we remain the owner of the overall building and the land it stands on and remain responsible for the maintenance and repair of the structure and exterior of the building. Your lease agreement sets out these rights and obligations in full.
As of 30 November 2009, we are carrying out a STATUS (Standardised Tenant Satisfaction Survey) of leaseholders. If you are a leaseholder, you will have been sent a letter about this. Please follow this link to fill it in online.
We want you to be involved in SBHA. Click here to find out how.
Repairs
If you own a Do It Yourself Shared Ownership (DIYSO) house or a house on one of our schemes, you are responsible for repairing the entire house. If you own a DIYSO flat, then the owner of your building (not us) will be responsible for the repair of the building and you repair the inside of your flat.
If you own a flat on a shared ownership lease on one of our schemes, then we give the highest priority to the most urgent work. For some repairs we must consult residents before we can proceed.
If you identify a repair that is our responsibility, please report it.
Service charges
A service charge is a payment you make towards the services which are provided and maintained for your building and estate. When you first buy your property you get an estimated annual cost of the services we will provide. The first few years of service charge estimates in new schemes will not be calculated upon real costs and may, therefore, vary considerably from actual costs. This is because we have not built up a history of costs for running the scheme.
Our aim is to get estimates as close as possible to actual costs. The service charge year is 01 April to 31 March. We review the estimated charges each year and will send you a new estimate.
After the end of each service charge year, by 30 September, you will receive a summary of the final (or actual) costs for that year. If the actual costs have varied from the estimated costs, we will adjust your account for the following year. With your statement you will also receive a Summary of Rights and Obligations.
Free legal advice for leaseholders
The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) can help you with your legal rights as a leaseholder. If you cannot find the answer to your question on their website at www.lease-advice.org you can call one of their trained, specialists layers on 020 7374 5380 for free legal advice. The service is government funded and completely free to you.
Cleaning and gardening
In 2010 our contract with Pinnacle comes to end. Pinnacle is responsible for cleaning and gardening on Shepherds Bush Housing Association’s developments.
We have written a tender for companies outlining the specifications of work to be done. To read the specification and make any comments please click here.
Building Insurance
SBHG's leaseholder building insurnace expries in 2010. Please click here to read the consultation specification and give us your views on the specification.
Leaseholder handbook
The leaseholder handbook is a full guide to services and information for all leaseholders. You can read or download it here. |