FAQ’s
Lease and Property Ownership
A lease is a contract between the leaseholder and the landlord giving conditional ownership of a property. The lease sets out the contractual obligations of the parties.
Ground Rent is rent that is payable to the freeholder for the right to occupy a leasehold property. The amount of rent and the dates that it is due is specified in the lease.
Payment of Ground Rent charges is normally a condition of the lease and is obligatory. In order to obtain any type of consent or assign your lease you will need to prove that your Ground Rent is paid up to date. All Ground Rent demand notices are issued in accordance with the Leasehold Reform Act.
I’ve only just moved into my property but you have sent me a Ground Rent invoice for arrears prior to my ownership.
Ground Rent is based on the property not the owner; under the Limitation Act 1980 you could be liable for up to 6 years of Ground Rent arrears. It is your solicitor’s responsibility to ensure that the Ground Rent account is up to date upon purchase of the premises. If your solicitors have not done this then you may need to seek independent advice.
Property Alterations and Permissions
As a general rule any alteration that changes the appearance or structure of your property will require consent. Some examples (however, by no means exhaustive):
- Fitting of new windows and doors (including double glazing)
- Layering of wooden flooring
- Extensions, conservatories and porches
- Modification of internal walls
Your lease will stipulate whether a pet may be kept at the property with consent of the Landlord. Some leases do not provide for any discretion and no pets may be kept on the property.
Consent is required for areas dictated by your lease but general matters are sub-letting, altering, keeping pets etc… It is always best to be sure so when you are doing anything that will affect your property we advise that you check your lease in the first instance and if you are still unsure then contact us.
If you carry out works without the consent of the Landlord and then later wish to sell your property, the buyer’s solicitors will probably delay completion of the sale as you will be deemed as being in breach of your lease until you obtain Retrospective Consent. The fee for obtaining Retrospective Consent may be substantially higher than if you applied before the work was carried out.
Insurance and Valuations
Contents insurance covers your personal belongs, the items inside your property. Imagine you were to turn your flat upside down anything that falls is covered by contents insurance.
Buildings insurance covers the actual structure of your property and includes walls, roofs, floors etc… Outdoor structures such as garages and fences are normally also included.
You will always be responsible for insuring the contents of your property however with regards to building insurance we recommend you check your lease in the first instance. If you are still unsure please do not hesitate to contact us via the Contact Us page
Quite simply this is the cost of rebuilding your property if it is destroyed by an insured event.
This is the estimated worth of your property.
Service Charges and Management
A service charge is an obligation set out to you in your lease to pay for the maintenance and keeping in good state of repair of your communal areas. This will also include complying with legislative requirements such as health and safety. The service charge is used to pay for the aforementioned and a lot more.
Section 20 (s20) is a statute clause within the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This means that any cost to a building that is over £250 per unit inclusive of VAT needs to go through s20 notice.
Hillgate Management acts as an agent on behalf of our clients and deals with the upkeep and maintenance of the common parts of the building such as the front entrance and lobby, staircases, or hallways. We also deal with a collection of all service charges and other covenants (legally binding promises) stipulated within your lease agreement such as insurance, ground rent, major works etc… and ensure that the covenants stated within the same are upheld.
Hillgate Management covers all buildings shapes and sizes from 3 units upwards. Get in touch with us and we will always be happy to quote.
Yes and No!
Hillgate Management does accept insurance commissions primarily from organising building insurance. Occasionally small commissions are generated through Terrorism, Directors & Officers, and Engineering but these are rare.
This is common practice within the industry and supplements the administration costs of arranging insurance on behalf of the building and our involvement in claims as and when they crop up. We do not charge additional costs over and above our management fee for doing so but without insurance commissions this would not be financially viable and we would need to charge additional costs to cover our services should the building ask to receive the insurance commissions themselves.
We are completely open about insurance commissions and our reason for doing so and it is stated in our Management Agreement. The amount of commission we receive is dependent on the building but we are legally obliged to disclose the exact amount if requested and are happy to do so. We also look to get the fairest possible premiums for our buildings and are constantly looking to keep them as low and comprehensive as possible.
No – we do not accept any other form of commission from contractors or any other services provided. We are always looking to do the best for our clients and utilising services based on commissions not ability goes against this ethos.
Dispute Resolution and Information
Hillgate Management strives to deal with every matter in a practical, personal, and proficient manner. We do understand, however, that complaints can still arise so we have put a procedure in place to ensure that every complaint is dealt with justly and completely. Please see our Complaints Process download on the contact us page for further information.
For further individual information please check your lease in the first instance. If you require anything further then please do not hesitate to contact us or for independent advice please contact the government’s Leasehold Advisory Service LEASE at [www.lease-advise.org](http://www.lease-advise.org “”) which has a free telephone helpline.
