Information for leaseholders

A leaseholder owns a flat in a building that Gentoo owns. Your lease contains the terms and conditions you agree to follow.

Contents

Your lease

Your lease is a legal contract between you and Gentoo. You are the leaseholder and Gentoo is the landlord.

It allows you to own your flat for 99 to 150 years from the date you bought it, as long as you follow the terms and conditions of your lease.

Service charges

Your lease will usually include monthly service charges. Your service charges pay to:

  • maintain the land around your building, like cutting grass and gardening
  • clean and decorate communal areas
  • maintain fire alarms, emergency lighting and lifts
  • supply communal electricity and water
  • insure and repair the building

Find out more about how we set your service charges.

Your service charges include building insurance, but you will need to arrange home contents insurance separately. If you need proof of building insurance for your home contents insurance, contact the Leasehold Management Team.

Ground rent

Your lease also includes a £10 ground rent. This is different to your service charges, and you pay it once a year. We will send you a letter 30 days before the payment is due.

Your rights

Legal rights

There are many laws that protect your rights as a leaseholder. If you need help or advice, you can contact:

Right to manage the building you live in

You and the other leaseholders and owners have the right to:

  • take over and manage the building yourselves
  • arrange for a managing agent to take over and manage the building

To find out more, contact the Leasehold Management Team.

Right to be consulted

We will always consult you about any major contracts, works and repairs to the building where your share of the cost is more than £250.

We will send you a letter that includes the:

  • work we are planning to do
  • contractors we want to hire
  • cost of the work

You will have 30 days to respond with any comments.

After the work or repairs, we will send you an invoice for your part of the cost.

Right to sublet your home

You can sublet your home, but you must contact the Leasehold Management Team and give them the contact details of the managing agent and the tenant living there.

Right to alter your home

You do not need our written permission to complete minor works, like decorating or replacing your kitchen.

You will need our written permission from us for any work that significantly changes the inside or outside of your home. For example, if you want to:

  • replace doors and windows
  • remove internal walls
  • install a satellite dish
  • install a new boiler
  • replace pipework

To find out if you need our written permission before altering your home, contact the Leasehold Management Team.

You must pay £61.50 to get our written permission.

Right to sell your home

If you decide to sell your property, we provide information to solicitors about:

  • asbestos
  • external wall surveys
  • fire risk assessments
  • building insurance
  • major works
  • service charges

This information is in a management pack and costs £120.

If you sell your home less than 5 years after buying it through a preserved right to buy or right to acquire scheme, you will have to pay back a percentage of the discount you received.

Your responsibilities

Decorating, maintaining and repairing your home

You are responsible for decorating, maintaining and repairing the inside of your home and things that are only for your home.

To report a repair to the structure or exterior of the building, or communal areas and equipment that are for more than one property, you can:

Fixtures, fittings and appliances

You are responsible for:

  • baths and showers
  • sinks, taps and plugs
  • toilets
  • fires
  • gas appliances, including fires, boilers and water heaters
  • kitchen worktops and units
  • cookers
  • dishwashers
  • tumble dryers and washing machines
  • light fittings, sockets, bulbs and fuses

Doors and windows

You are responsible for:

  • external doors and door frames if you bought your lease after 22 May 1989
  • doorbells, door knockers and letterboxes
  • door and window handles, hinges and locks
  • glass in internal doors, external doors and windows
  • internal doors
  • window frames if you bought your lease after 22 May 1989

Fire doors

If a door is a fire door, you must never change it by:

  • adjusting the bottom, top or sides
  • painting or adding vinyl to the door
  • removing or adjusting door closers
  • repairing, changing or adding locks
  • changing the letterbox
  • decorating the door, like hanging wreathes or festive decorations
  • screwing anything into the door, including door knockers, door numbers, handles, chains and bolts

If you change a fire door, we may charge you to complete any repairs.

You must ask us for permission before you can replace a fire door. If you want to replace a fire door, contact the Leasehold Management Team.

Woodwork

You are responsible for:

  • fire surrounds
  • interior moulding or architraves
  • skirting boards
  • windowsills
  • staircases, bannisters and handrails

Surfaces

You are responsible for:

  • balcony floor surfaces, including tiles
  • floorboards
  • floor coverings, including carpets and laminate flooring
  • plaster and plasterboards
  • tiles

Damp and mould

If an inspection finds that damp or mould is caused by something inside your home, like a water leak, you are responsible for getting it repaired.

Find out more about damp, cleaning and clearing mould, and how to reduce condensation.

Things that are only in or for your flat

You are responsible for:

  • cables, wires and supply lines
  • fire alarms
  • heating not linked to a communal or district heating system
  • sewers, drains, water pipes, and utility access covers
  • TV aerials and satellite dishes
  • water tanks and pumps

Things outside your home

You are responsible for:

  • gardens coloured on the plan in the lease
  • external walls, fences and gates marked 'T' on the plan in the lease
  • postboxes

Gas safety checks

As part of your lease, you must have all your gas appliances checked once a year by a Gas Safe Registered tradesperson. This is to keep you safe and reduce the risk of gas leaks, explosions and carbon monoxide.

We will write to you once a year to remind you that your gas safety check is due and to send us a copy of the certificate. You can email a copy to leaseholdmanagement@
gentoogroup.com

For leaseholders with more recent leases, we have the right to enter your home and complete gas services if you do not provide a certificate. We will charge you for the cost of the service.

Pets

You must ask us for permission before you get any pet. If you want a pet, contact the Leasehold Management Team.

Fires in your home or building

If there is a fire in your home or building, follow the guidance on what you should do for the type of home and building you live in. Never try to put out the fire yourself or use a lift.

Find out more about what to do when there is a fire in your home or building.

Our responsibilities

To meet the terms of your lease and give you reassurance we will:

  • provide a high-quality service to manage and maintain the place where you live
  • give you accurate and up-to-date information about services and their costs
  • consult with and involve you when reviewing all services that affect you directly
  • help you enjoy suitable, safe and secure living conditions
  • have different payment methods so you can pay in a way that suits you
  • give you advice on any payment problems

Neighbourhood safety

We want everyone in our neighbourhoods to feel safe and secure. We want to prevent and reduce as much antisocial behaviour, domestic abuse, hate crime and hate incidents as possible.

There is help and support available if you have a problem in your neighbourhood.

Maintaining and repairing the building and communal areas

We are responsible for maintaining and repairing the structure and exterior of the building, and communal areas and equipment that are for more than one property.

Maintaining includes cleaning, decorating, inspecting and servicing.

Foundations, floors, ceilings and lofts

We are responsible for:

  • beams
  • insulation
  • joints
  • supporting floor structures
  • timbers

Brickwork

We are responsible for:

  • chimney stacks
  • cracked brickwork
  • damp proofing
  • pointing between bricks
  • wall ties

Roofs and associated pipes and woodwork

We are responsible for:

  • bargeboards, fascia boards, soffits and other woodwork
  • gutters, downpipes and soil pipes
  • leaks
  • loose tiles
  • felt damage
  • storm damage

Doors and windows

We are responsible for:

  • all fire doors, including your front door if it is a fire door
  • external doors and front doors if you bought your lease on or before 2 May 1989
  • window restrictors on the windows in your flat
  • window frames in your flat if you bought your lease on or before 2 May 1989

Communal areas, equipment and features

We are responsible for:

  • balconies, except floor surfaces and tiles
  • cables, wires and supply lines
  • canopies
  • car parks and spaces
  • communal gardens not coloured in on the plan in your lease
  • door entry systems and CCTV
  • external and internal doors and windows
  • external walls, fences and gates not marked with a ‘T’ on the plan in your lease
  • fire alarms, fire equipment and extractor fans
  • gardens not coloured in on the plan in your lease
  • lifts
  • lofts and internal roof structures
  • lights
  • passages, hallways, landings, staircases, bannisters and handrails
  • pathways, pavements and roadways
  • sewers, drains, water pipes, and utility access covers
  • TV aerials and satellite dishes

Damp and mould

If an inspection finds that damp or mould is caused by external or structural faults or damage, we are responsible for repairing it.

Find out more about damp, cleaning and clearing mould, and how to reduce condensation.

Contact the Leasehold Management Team

If you need to contact the team, you can: