Blackpool Coastal Housing >
Right to Buy & Leaseholders >
Being a Leaseholder
Right to Buy & Leaseholders
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Contact Us
Homeownership Blackpool Coastal Housing Progress House Clifton Road Blackpool FY4 4US  (01253) 477984  homeownership@bch.co.uk |
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Lease and Leaseholder Information
- Blackpool Council hold the freehold of the building and will be your Landlord, with Blackpool Coastal Housing managing your Lease on the council's behalf.
- You will have bought the Lease and will be a tenant with a long lease.
- You will be a Leaseholder.
- The Lease gives you the right of possession but not ownership of the property for the period stated in the lease.
The Lease is your legal agreement with the Landlord and sets out your rights and responsibilities;
for example, your payment of Service Charges, Ground Rent and Buildings Insurance Premium, your obligations relating to consent to improvements you may wish to undertake, allowing access for repairs and programmed works and the tenancy conditions connected with neighbourhood issues.
The Lease also sets out the Landlords responsibilities.
Open the Leaseholders Handbook or click on the "Handbook and Newsletters" button for further information.
The current Homeownership Policy document is published under the leaflets button.
You will be invoiced in April and October each year for Service Charges, which includes your share of the day to day (responsive) repairs to your block or your own flat and your share of planned/programmed works to your block or your own flat.
Your April invoice will include your annual Ground Rent and Buildings Insurance Charges.
Click on the Paying your Service Charges button.
Landlord Consent
Your Lease tells you that you must ask for Landlord Consent before you undertake any improvements such as installing new windows or doors, central heating or any new kitchen or bathroom work.
You should write to Homeownership with details of the improvements you are planning and we will offer advice on the work and issue a consent letter for your own records. It is important that any work is undertaken by suitably qualified tradespeople and that no damage or nuisance is caused.
Consent is not given to Loft conversions as the loft is never sold with the Lease and remains the property of the Council.
Gas Safety: It is important that all Leaseholders provide a copy of their annual Gas Safety Certificate, if you are sub letting it is also a legal requirement that one is provided.
Leaseholders can join the Blackpool Council Gas Safety Care & Maintenance Scheme, there is an annual charge payable in full for which Leaseholders are invoiced separately from their Service Charges. Open the Information form and for more information about Gas Safety see the Repairs Gas Safety section on this web site.
Fire Safety: There are very strict rules from Government on the standard required for doors and windows in blocks of flats. Please contact Homeownership for more information and to obtain Landlord Consent if you are planning to replace your existing front door or windows.
- Please note an ordinary UPVC door will not be legal if it opens onto communal areas, and any window which faces onto a communal area must be glazed with safety glass.
- Any replacement windows and door must meet the legal requirements of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). A copy of the specification/guarantee is required for the Leasehold file and for the Block Fire Risk Assessment which is available for inspection by the Fire Service.
- If you privately install a door/window which fails to meet the Fire Safety Reform Act requirements Blackpool Coastal Housing will, in order to meet its obligations to ensure block safety, be required to obtain legal advice in order to enforce compliance with clauses in your Lease. For more information please contract Blackpool Coastal Housing
A free safety inspection of your flat by the Fire Service can be arranged by contacting Homeownership.
Blackpool Coastal Housing make regular block inspections, and is in the process of undertaking fire risk assessments on all blocks of flats. The Fire Service tell us that communal areas, corridors, hallways and staircases must not be used to store any furniture, mobility scooters, bikes, pushchairs, planters etc. that could cause a hazard. If you need to dispose of any large items you can contact Blackpool Council Customer First on 01253 477477 and ask about Bulky Matters.
Section 20 Notice of Intention : If your building is included in any major external improvements works you will receive a statutory notice giving details of the work, its total cost and the share you will have to pay. You will also receive information on the statutory loans policy which may be able to help you towards the costs. The work will be undertaken by contractors who were awarded contracts following the OJEU regulations. Leaseholders can not nominate their own contractors to undertake any work to the external parts of blocks of flats, please see Long Term Contracts Fact Sheet. f you are interested in being included in any internal improvements being carried out under the Decent Homes programme please see the "Decent Homes" section on this web site.
LATEST NEWS
HOMEOWNERSHIP SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PANEL 21st July 2010
The minutes from the last meeting are now available Handbook, Newsletters, & Panel button.
The next Service Improvement Panel meeting is due to be held in October the venue and date to be announced after the move of offices from Progress House to Coastal House.
ANNUAL TENANT & LEASEHOLDER CONFERENCE - 1st September at the Winter Gardens from 12.30 onwards. All Leaseholders are invited to attend.
2009-10 SATISFACTION SURVEY
The report can be found through the Handbook, Newsletter & Panel button. If you wish to be involved in discussing the survey results please come along to the Leaseholder Service Improvement Panels and Conference. Details from the survey will be made available through future Leaseholder Newsletters.
SERVICE CHARGES - MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATION COSTS
A review of this one element of the Service Charges is underway to ensure that the charge made to Leaseholders fully represents the services provided. Follow the link to see the current list.
FORUMS to be renamed HOMEOWNERSHIP SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PANELS
Service Improvement Pannels are meetings held quarterly at various locations throughout Blackpool. Each Leaseholder will receive an invitation before the event and suggestions for topics for discussion are welcome. The aims and objectives of the meetings will be discuss and review Homeownership perfomance and service standards and suggest and monitor improvements to the service.
The minutes and agendas for the meetings are available on the link
Handbook, Newsletters and Panel button
For more information on how you can become involved in helping to monitor and introduce improvements to the services Blackpool Coastal Housing supply please see the Customer Involvment pages
Page last modified on 20 August 2010