Selling or Letting Your Leasehold Home

Whoever buys your home will take over what is left of your lease, under the same terms that you had.

The Solicitor you assign to the case will write to Basildon Council's Legal Department requesting several items of information and there will be a charge for supplying this information.

So you may find it helpful if you provide your acting solicitor with:

• a copy of your lease
• 3 years worth of service charges
• details of any planned major works
• a copy of your reserve account if applicable, as this stays with the property and you may need to negotiate this amount of money to be held in the reserve account with your solicitor.

Outstanding service charges

When your lease is assigned, all service charge arrears including the quarter in which you move and any deferred loans must be cleared on completion of sale.

Basildon Council will not get involved in any apportionment of outstanding service charges between leaseholders and purchasers.

It is your responsibility to make sure that your solicitor resolves this and having done so, retains sufficient monies for charges not yet billed.

Right to Buy Discount repayment

If you bought the lease to your home with help from the Government's Right to Buy Scheme, you will have to repay any discount you received through the scheme if you sell your lease within the first five years of the completion of the purchase. The discount repayable will be reduced by one fifth for each complete year that has elapsed since completion of the purchase.

In addition, the amount of discount to be repaid if you sell within five years of purchase will be a percentage of the resale value of the property, disregarding the value of any improvements.

If you purchased your property after the 18th January 2005.

Under the Housing Regulations 2005, If you purchased your property after the 18th January 2005 then Basildon Borough Council has the right of first refusal should you decide to sell this property within the first ten years of the date of completion of purchase.

In addition, any future purchaser of the property will be required to enter into a covenant with Basildon Council, whereby the property may not be sold on within the first ten years of the date purchase without first being offered for sale to Basildon Council, who will have Right of First Refusal.

If you require further information please contact our Leaseholder Service Team.

Letting your leasehold home to tenants and lodgers

Any tenants or lodgers must keep to the terms of the lease otherwise action will be taken against you as the leaseholder.

Before you let your home it is advisable to tell your mortgage company and get legal advice about your rights and responsibilities as a landlord.

For further information your rights and responsibilities as a landlord visit the Health and Safety Executive (opens new window).