Information Classification PUBLIC Cornwall Housing Guide For Shared Owners

information classification: public cornwall housing guide for shared owners this leaseholder guide aims to provide you

Information Classification: PUBLIC
Cornwall Housing Guide for Shared Owners
This leaseholder guide aims to provide you with some useful
information to help you enjoy living in your new home and community
and answer the most common questions that you may have, following the
purchase of your shared ownership home.
Table of contents
Page
Table of contents 2
About this Guide 3
What you can expect from us 4
Shared Ownership 4
Our Rights and Responsibilities 5
Rent 5
Other Property Charges 6
Service Charge and Estate Maintenance 6
Estate Maintenance 7
Management Charge 8
Property Insurance (Building) 8
Property Insurance (Contents) 8
Repairs and Maintenance 8
Gas Safety 8
Alterations and Improvements 8
Sub-letting your home 9
Buying a further share in your home 9
Selling your home 10
Advertising your home 10
Furvasow Erel 11
SHARED OWNERSHIP – LEASEHOLDER GUIDE
About this Guide
Welcome to your new home.
This leaseholder guide aims to provide you with some useful
information to help you enjoy living in your new home and community
and answer the most common questions that you may have, following the
purchase of your shared ownership home. We aim to provide all relevant
information to you, whether it is related to, rents, service charges,
estate repairs and improvements, at the right time and in the right
way.
This guide provides general guidance and explanations. It isn’t
intended to provide legal advice so it should be read in conjunction
with your lease. If you have any queries about your lease, you may
wish to seek independent legal advice.
If you aren’t able to find the answer to your question in this
handbook and require further information, please contact us for
assistance. Contact details can be found below and on the back cover
of this handbook.
We hope you will find this guide useful.
The lease on your new home is managed by Cornwall Housing on behalf of
Cornwall Council, your Landlord, and you can contact us on 0300 1234
161
What you can expect from us
The following standards indicate the level of service you can expect
from us.
Our commitment to you…
Your lease agreement sets out the full conditions, but in brief we
will:
*
Treat you with dignity and respect
*
Use language that is easy to understand
*
Be open and honest
*
Maintain your confidentiality
*
Listen to your views
*
Inform you of any changes in central or local government
legislation that will affect either your lease, or how we manage
your lease
*
Give you options for how, when and where you can contact us
*
When we visit your home we will always make an appointment first,
unless it is an emergency situation
Shared Ownership
As a shared owner you have purchased a part share in your home. This
can vary from 40% to 75%. This share has been sold to you on a
leasehold basis for a period of 125 years. The remaining share is
rented from Cornwall Council who is your landlord.
At a later date you have the opportunity to buy more shares in your
property and become an outright owner – this is known as
‘staircasing’. If you staircase to 100% ownership, the freehold
interest can be transferred to you; however please be aware that there
may be other occupancy clauses such as local connection restrictions
when you come to sell on in the future, should your property be
subject to a Section 106 agreement. There may be some restrictions on
certain properties which prevent staircasing to 100%, or require you
to offer your property back to the Council first, if you decide to
sell.
Our Rights and Responsibilities
We have the right to charge you rent for the share of the property you
do not own, buildings insurance and any other charges relating to the
performance of our duties as your landlord’s agent.
We have the right to make an appointment with you to inspect the
property. If repairs are needed, we will give you written notice to
carry out any necessary remedial works. If you do not carry out the
repairs, or any repairs are not considered by the landlord to be a
satisfactory standard, we reserve the right to arrange the works and
you will be recharged accordingly.
We have the right, in some circumstances, to enter your property
without notice to carry out repairs if there is a serious risk of
damage to the property, or it could otherwise be a danger to other
residents.
We have the right to enter your home to carry out an inspection, or to
take a schedule of the fixtures and fittings in the premises. We must
give you reasonable notice if we intend to do this. Unless this is an
emergency we will agree a time with you beforehand.
If we find any defects or disrepair we will inform you by letter of
the repairs needed and give you notice to fix the disrepair within 3
months of the date of the notification letter. If you don’t meet the
terms set out in the notice we (or contractors acting on our behalf)
will carry out the repairs and we will reclaim the costs from you.
Please note that if new your property is covered by a defect warranty
from the builder for any defects from the date the property was
completed. Please check before attempting to repair a defect as this
may invalidate the warranty.
Rent
You are required to pay rent on the remaining share of your home that
you do not purchase. We will tell you the initial rent for the share
that you have not bought before you complete the purchase. Your lease
will set out the basis on how your rent is assessed, and the method
that your landlord, Cornwall Council, will use to calculate any future
increases.
Rent will be charged by equal monthly payments, in advance on the
first day of each month. The default method of payment is by Direct
Debit.
Non-payment of rent and or other charges may incur interest, at 3%
above the base rate of Barclay’s Bank PLC, that remain unpaid for a
period of 14 days after becoming due for payment
Non-payment of rent and lease obligations may result in the
termination of the lease. It is therefore important that you talk to
us as soon as possible if you are having difficulties paying your
rent. Inclusion advisors are available to provide budgeting; debt
advice and welfare benefit advice and can work with shared owners if
they are experiencing financial difficulty. Contact us if you need to
access these services.
We must inform your mortgage lender if you fall behind on your rent
payments, and by signing your lease you have authorised us to exchange
relevant information with your lender.
If you accrue rent arrears and you do not bring your account up to
date or make and adhere to a repayment agreement, you will be served
with a Notice Seeking Possession. This gives you 4 weeks to bring your
account under control before we would apply to the court to evict you
from the property.
Your Mortgage lender may also instigate possession proceedings.
If you purchase further shares in the property, the rent will be
reduced accordingly, however the rent you pay on the remaining share
will still be reviewed every year to reflect the current market rent
at that time.
Other Property Charges
Even though you may not own 100% of your home, you are responsible for
paying all outgoings relating to the property. For example: Council
tax, Contents Insurance, Heating, Lighting, water and sewage charges.
Service Charge and Estate Maintenance
As a shared Owner, whilst you are responsible for all repairs to your
home (only repairs to the interior of your home if you live in a flat,
as defined in your lease), you are also required to make a
contribution towards any costs of the repairs and maintenance of the
shared common areas on the estate where you live. Please refer to your
lease to check which areas of your home you are responsible for
repairing.
Service charges for the dwellings on your estate have been calculated
and apportioned across the development with each household being
charged a monthly rate, to be reviewed annually. This charge may cover
Grounds maintenance of estate amenity areas including grass cutting
and upkeep of shrubberies etc.
Lighting on non-adopted roads
Emptying of Septic tanks
Servicing of attenuation tank
If you live in a flat you may also be charged for
Health and safety inspections
Health and safety system servicing and upkeep
Repairs and maintenance of the building which your flat is in
Communal area grounds maintenance
Communal lighting
Communal cleaning
Any other communal services provided
You will also be charged:
Buildings insurance for your property (or a proportion of the total
cost for insuring the whole building, if you live in a flat)
Estate Maintenance
Once the developer’s requirements to carry out repairs within their
contractual defect period has expired, any estate repairs and
maintenance costs will be apportioned amongst the total number of
residents. There will then be a yearly recharge of those costs with
apportionment based on the number of properties on the estate
For example, where an estate has 30 properties within its boundaries,
all costs will be apportioned and shared between those thirty
properties. A shared owner would be recharged a thirtieth of any costs
for the repairs and maintenance of the shared estate common areas.
Where individual works costs are expected to cost more than £250.00
per resident, CHL will consult with leaseholders (shared owners) in
accordance with Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 as
amended by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (“the Act”),
Landlords are required to give notice to Leaseholders of their
intention to carry out “Qualifying Works” as described in the Act.
Qualifying works include a wide range of works from replacement and
maintenance of shared estate areas such as un-adopted paths to full
replacement of drainage systems or sewerage treatment works where
mains drainage is not available
If you want more information on ‘qualifying works’ please contact us.
Management Charge
The Service Charge as described above and any re-chargeable estate
works attracts a management fee, this fee covers for example: the
costs of collating the cost data, apportionment, scheduling, invoicing
and collection costs.
Property Insurance (Building)
Cornwall Council will insure your property. The monthly premium for
this will be charged with your rent, you will be responsible for
arranging the buildings insurance of your property if you purchase
100% of your home.
Property Insurance (Contents)
Cornwall Council does not provide contents insurance. You will need to
arrange your own contents insurance through an independent insurance
provider to cover your personal possessions.
Repairs and Maintenance
You are responsible for all repairs and maintenance on your property.
This includes gardens to the front and rear, and all fences, walls and
hedges marked with an inward-facing ‘T’ on you lease plan.
Gas Safety
Under the terms of your lease you are responsible for keeping any
appliances in your home in a safe condition. This is so that they
don’t cause a danger to the property or any of the people that live in
it, or to any other surrounding properties and residents.
You must arrange for all gas installations to be tested (serviced)
annually.
Alterations and Improvements
Under the terms of your shared ownership lease, you do not have the
right to carry out any alterations or improvements, (other than minor
interior upgrades); however requests for approval to carry out
alterations will be considered in limited circumstances and at the
Council’s discretion.
Requests will only be considered on the basis of welfare adaptations
or to meet the needs of your household, and requests will be
considered on a case by case basis.
You must get written permission before carrying out alterations or
improvements. Replacing like for like replacements such as a
replacement boiler or undertaking internal decoration will generally
not require permission. Please submit your request by using the ‘Application
for house alterations’ form available online.
You may also need planning permission and building regulations
approval.
You will be solely responsible for all costs incurred in relation to
alterations and improvements to your home.
CHL will inspect any works carried out to ensure they are of a
satisfactory and compliant standard.
If you damage the structure of the building, your landlord has the
right to make it good and charge you for doing so.
Sub-letting your home
Under the terms of your lease you are prohibited from subletting any
part of your home. However in exceptional circumstances such as the
prevention of homelessness or financial hardship, CHL in conjunction
with your Landlord, CC, may consider the shared owner sub-letting
their home or taking a lodger.
However all requests will be considered on a case by case basis, and
legal advice will be sought in all cases.
If however it is found that you have rented your property out without
permission, we can take legal proceedings by taking you to court and
recover repossession of your home, or force you to sell the property.
Buying a further share in your home
Buying a further share in your home, or buying it outright is known as
‘staircasing’.
The cost to purchase a further share(s) will be based on the current
market value of the property at the time you propose to purchase that
additional share. The value will be determined by an independent
qualified valuer who is a member of RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors). Cornwall Housing will arrange this on your behalf. You
will be required to cover the cost of the valuation. When making
further purchases of shares, each additional share you require must
not be less than 10%.
It is important to bear in mind that house prices can go up and down.
This means that sometimes you might pay more for buying additional
shares, or have to sell at a price that is less than what you
originally paid for your share, if the market value has dropped.
If you owe any rent or other monies including the valuation fee, these
become payable in full upon completion
For further information on staircasing please contact us.
Selling your home
You will need to inform CC in writing if you wish to sell your share.
An independent valuation by a RICS surveyor will be obtained by
Cornwall Housing, to assess the market value of the property. You will
be required to cover the cost of valuing the property. You cannot sell
your share for more than the appropriate percentage of the full market
value.
Advertising your home
If you wish to sell your home, please contact us for more information.
We hope you enjoy your new home and surroundings. Please do get in
touch if you have any concerns or queries. We are here to help.
Alternative formats
Furvasow Erel
If you would like this information on audio CD, audio tape, Braille,
large print, any other format or interpreted in a language other than
English, please contact:-
Mar mynnowgh hwi kavos an kedhlow ma war son-sidi, sonsnod, yn
Braille, prynt bras, furvas aral po styrys yn taves dres Sowsnek,
kestevewgh mar pleg:-
Address
Cornwall Housing Ltd
Chy Trevail
Beacon Technology Park
Bodmin
Cornwall
PL31 2FR
Telephone and Text
General enquiries and repairs: 0300 1234 161
Text: 07941 712 712
Email
General enquiries [email protected]
Website www.cornwallhousing.org.uk
HRA Shared Ownership Handbook 11
V0.6 07.08.19