Homeowners Flat owners

Whether you’re a leaseholder or a shared owner of a flat, you have rights and responsibilities when it comes to enjoying, maintaining and repairing your home. We also have responsibilities as your landlord and the freeholder of your building.

Here’s some of the main responsibilities. You can find full details of all your rights and responsibilities, and ours, in your lease. You’ll have received a copy of your lease from your solicitor when you bought your home and you can also get hold of a copy from Land Registry.

Your responsibilities as the leaseholder or shared owner of a flat

• It’s your responsibility to maintain your flat, as well as organise and pay for any repairs inside your home
• If you have pipes and cables running through your walls or under your floor, you must keep these well maintained. If your pipes leak and damage another flat or part of the building, you’ll have to pay to repair the damage.
• You must keep communal areas, such as stairs and hallways, clear of your belongings

Our responsibilities as the landlord of a block of flats

• We are not responsible for any repairs inside your home
• We will maintain and repair the shared parts of your building, such as stairs, corridors and the roof
• We’ll look after communal areas outside your building, such as car parks, gardens and paths, to make sure these spaces are safe and clean
• We will deal with any problems in your block, such as rubbish, graffiti and antisocial behaviour
• We have a buildings insurance policy that covers your building. If water leaks from the roof or neighbouring flat into your home, you can claim on our buildings insurance policy for the cost of the repairs.

The builder’s responsibility for newly built shared ownership flats

For the first two years after you buy a brand-new flat, we or the builder may be responsible for any repairs.

All newly built blocks of flats will have a building warranty with NHBC or Premier. The warranty is for 10 years from the date the building was finished. If you make a claim with NHBC or Premier, you must pay an excess.

If you need any more information about this, please contact us.