As a leaseholder, you will own the right to occupy your home for an allotted number of years and you may pay ground rent to Thrive for this.  The number of years that remain on your lease and the amount of ground rent you are liable to pay is outlined in your lease agreement. Each year we will review the rules as set out in your lease and send you a letter to update you before the changes take place.

You can contact your solicitor who will be able to provide you with a copy of your lease if you don’t hold a copy. You can additionally access a copy from the Land Registry for a fee if you cannot get in touch with them.

Where you live in a block or part of a wider estate, you are required to pay your share of the cost to Thrive for managing and maintaining the common areas and shared services. Read more in Understanding your service charge and ground rent.

Your solicitor should have explained all the details of the lease to you when you purchased your home, including:

• the obligations, rights, and responsibilities that each party must adhere to
• particulars of what you are demised and responsible for
• the number of years left on your lease
• a Conveyance or Land Registry filed plan to illustrate the boundaries of the common or shared areas and a copy of the Lease Plan outlining your home edged in red
• the share you will pay towards all services and maintenance
• the ground rent payable.

When a lease falls below a term of 80 years it can become harder to sell as any potential buyer may experience difficulties getting a mortgage for it.

Most lessees have the right to purchase a 90-year extension if you have owned the flat for the preceding two years. You will have your own valuation carried out and be prepared to pay for Thrive’s valuation to assess the premium, administration charge, and our Solicitor fees. You can check more details on your eligibility and the process with your Solicitor.

Thrive Homes own the freehold for most of our housing stock. We are therefore responsible for the upkeep of the structure of the building, maintaining the internal and external communal areas and providing particular services. Each property within the building is then granted a separate contract to occupy it. We will therefore be the landlord.

In some instances, there is a Superior Landlord where a third party owns the freehold and Thrive are granted a lease for your property. Thrive have then granted you a lease which is termed an underlease. Thrive will be your landlord and we liaise with the third party as required.

In these circumstances there may be additional requirements for any queries you may have due to the third party, which could cause some delay in our response. We will always contact the Superior Landlord direct in these cases and let you know the additional requirements.

Your Solicitor will make all the necessary arrangements for your sale. You will need to ensure that you have paid the full balance of any arrears that you have as this may hold up the sales process.

Your purchaser will request a Management Pack (also known as a pre-assignment pack) which covers all the information required for your Lease and block. You will need to purchase this from Thrive and we will aim to turn this around within 10 working days of receipt of payment. Please request your Management Pack through the myThrive Hub.

Leases vary in their requirements and so you should always refer to this for details around consent.

If you are subletting your property, then we will need to know your new address so we can be confident that you receive important correspondence from us. It is also vital that we know how to reach you and the best instructions if we need access to the property in an emergency.

As a landlord, you are responsible for the conduct of your tenants and so you should ensure that their tenancy agreement agrees with the clauses that you are required to adhere to in your Lease. Any breaches caused by your tenant will be actioned against you as the Leaseholder.

You also take on other legal responsibilities such as safety checks which you should ensure you are up to date with. Helpful guidance on landlord responsibilities can be found at https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/landlord_responsibilities 

Mortgage companies often require and occasionally prohibit subletting so you should correspond with them directly about this. You should also check with your home contents insurer for any provisions that they have for sublets.

Administration charges are payments you make for ad hoc requests that arise from your lease responsibilities. These are not included in your regular service charges or management fee for example; requesting permissions or processing your sale documents.