Leaseholders

Tendring District Council leasehold properties

The information provided in these pages is for those owners who have bought their flat from us or bought or are buying a flat where Tendring District Council is the freeholder.

For general information on your leasehold flat, please see the leaseholder handbook and if you would like to pay your service charges, please see our how to pay page.

As a leaseholder, you have bought the right to live in your property for a fixed number of years - initially up to 125 - called the 'term'. Although the term is fixed at the start, it decreases every year until it expires and the ownership of the property returns to us, unless you apply to extend the lease.

As the lease agreement is legally binding on you, it is important to understand its requirements and the charges you will be expected to pay. If you are buying the lease from existing leaseholders, your solicitor or adviser should make sure they have paid all the amounts due from them before the sale. If not, you may have to pay some of the charges they owed.

If you buy the flat from an existing leaseholder, you should tell us straightaway, as we have a right to know who is responsible for the property. We will then register your interest in the property. If you are the new owner, you will have to pay us a fee to register the transfer of the property to you and to record any interest that the bank or building society granting you a mortgage has in your property.

Living in the private sector

For those of you living or renting in the private sector, please see our private sector housing pages for advice on various issues such as:

• grants available;
• information for tenants and landlords in the private sector;
• energy efficiency; and
• empty homes.