Rights and Responsibilities

Your rights as a leaseholder

The law

There are various laws to protect your rights as a leaseholder. If you are not sure of your rights, a solicitor can advise you or you can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau.

The main laws are the:

• Housing Act 1985
• Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985 and 1987
• Housing and Planning Act 1986
• Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
• Housing Act 1996
• Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

Sometimes further regulations may be added. You should be able to see copies of these laws and regulations at the main public library and some may also be available on the internet.

Repairs and maintenance

You have the right to ask your landlord to keep the ‘common parts’ of your block in a reasonable state of repair. You also have the right to be consulted about major repairs for which you will have to pay a share.

Making alterations

You have the right to make alterations to the inside of your flat provided you first obtain our permission. You may also need planning permission and or building regulations approval or both.

Management

You have the right to expect your landlord to deal with problems in your block, such as neighbour nuisance and to manage the communal areas.

Selling your flat

You have the right to sell your flat, but you must be aware that if you purchased it at a discount under the Right to Buy you may be asked to repay a proportion of the discount back if you sell your flat within 5 years from the purchase date.

You, or your solicitor, must tell us within one month if the flat is sold or passed on to somebody else. You can download a copy here of our price list for providing information if you sell you leasehold property or if you require it for anything else such as remortgaging your property.

Subletting your home

If you sublet your flat you must let us know and ensure that your tenant does not breach the terms of your lease. You must also provide us with a correspondence address where we are able to make contact with you.

Your responsibilities as a leaseholder

Removing rubbish

You should not dump furniture and other large items in the shared bin stores. Derby City Council's Streetcare offers a bulky domestic waste collection service. There is a fee to pay depending on the number of items to be collected. You can contact Streetcare on 01332 715000.

Caring for shared areas

Flats may share gardens, stairwells, parking areas and bin stores. Please take care of the shared areas as you pay for maintaining them and nobody wants to pay extra for damage caused by carelessness. Please take care when moving furniture in or out of your flat, as this can cause damage to communal areas.

Internal repairs

You are responsible for repairs inside your flat. If you have central heating it is up to you to organise a service each year. It is important for your health and safety that your boiler is checked every year and you should always check when the last service took place.

It is possible to arrange regular gas checks through Derby Homes. There will be a charge for this service. Please contact us for further information or download a copy of the leaflet online to access this information.

• You are also responsible for repairing leaks within your flat. Derby Homes is responsible for:
  
  • the damp-proof course
  • leaks from the roof, gutters and pipes in the shared areas
  • repairing and maintaining the structure and shared areas
  • cleaning and grounds maintenance in shared areas
  • making sure leaseholders carry out their responsibilities as set out
  in the lease.

• Alterations and Improvements

An alteration is something that affects the structure of your home but may not change the value of your home. Examples of alterations include:

• adding shelves
• fitting wardrobes
• changing the layout inside your home such as removing walls.

You must have permission from Derby Homes before you make any alterations. You may also need the permission of the:

• bank or building society which has lent you money to buy your home
• planning department of Derby City Council
• building control department of Derby City Council.

Nuisance

Living in flats brings special responsibilities. Try to consider how your neighbours would feel before you do something that might be a nuisance. Examples of nuisance include:

• playing loud music
• slamming doors
• shouting in the hallways – particularly at night
• talking, hanging around or playing in communal areas
• allowing children to damage communal areas
• not getting rid of mess and rubbish properly.

If you think someone is causing a nuisance, the first thing you should do is talk to them. This is the best way of resolving problems and they may not know they are bothering you. If this doesn’t work, or you are afraid to speak with them, tell your local housing office where the staff will be able to help. Many problems can be solved through mediation.  This is particularly useful where there appears to be a clash of lifestyles or personalities. Sometimes there may be no solution to your problem. For example, babies and young children can be noisy, but nobody would expect a family with young children to move - even if their neighbours complain of noise. If Derby Homes cannot help you wth your problem, they will tell you and explain why.

If your neighbours think you are causing a nuisance and complain to you, please listen to what they say. Most people don’t complain unless they feel they have no choice. Please see if there is something that you can do to help.

Harassment

Unlike nuisance, harassment is usually a deliberate act planned to cause distress. Harassment often happens as a result of prejudice.

Examples of harassment include:

• threats of violence
• deliberate damage to other people’s property.

Derby Homes and the DLA take all acts of harassment very seriously.  Derby Homes will investigate any report of harassment. If a leaseholder is causing trouble, legal action can be taken against them.

Our rights as a landlord

We have the right to make decisions about repairs and maintenance and improvements to your block. We also have the right to charge you a service charge including a management fee, ground rent and the cost to make alterations and improvements to your block including communal areas. 

We have the right, in an emergency, to gain entry into your property without notice to carry out repairs if there is a risk of serious damage to the property or the block. Examples would be if you removed a structural wall or if a leak from your flat was flooding the property below.

Our responsibilities as a landlord

We are responsible for keeping the structure and communal areas of the block in reasonable repair.  We are also responsible in some blocks for keeping the communal areas clean and providing a grounds maintenance service. We must also notify you if we intend to change or improve a service that affects you as a leaseholder.

Derby Homes must consult with you if repairs to your block are likely to cost more than £250 to any one leaseholder. We must give you at least 30 days to comment on the notice before we can commence with the work (except in an emergency, such as roof damage).  We must also consult with you when we plan to enter into a long-term agreement that will cost more than £100 each year to any leaseholder.

Please get in touch with the Derby Leaseholders Association (DLA) immediately if Derby Homes do not consult with you. The DLA will take the matter up with Derby Homes on your behalf.