Your lease is a legal contract between you and Oxford City Council. It confirms what has been agreed and gives details of your rights and responsibilities, as well as our responsibilities.
This lease details the property you've purchased, including any garden, garage, or shed. For leasehold flats, it also shows the area of your block, or the estate that your home is in, for the purpose of calculating service charges.
What your lease covers
Your lease is broken down into sections called ‘schedules’. Each schedule sets out conditions or responsibilities that you have as the leaseholder or that we have as the freeholder.
If you have bought your home from us, we usually retain ownership of the land. If your home is a flat then we will usually own and be responsible for the communal areas of the building and the fabric of the building itself (for example the roof).
Our responsibilities
Our responsibilities include:
- managing the buildings and estates
- maintaining records about leaseholders
- providing buildings insurance for leasehold properties (excluding contents insurance)
- accurately calculating and billing charges under your lease
- responding to your enquiries
- handling insurance claims for properties
- processing alteration permission requests
- overseeing the right to buy scheme
Your responsibilities
You need to:
- follow your lease agreement terms
- inform us about repairs we're responsible for
- carry out necessary internal repairs to your property
- pay your Service Charge
- ensure your household and guests avoid causing nuisance or damage in and around the property
Services we provide
Annually, we provide you with:
- an estimated service charge for the upcoming year
- actual service charge accounts by end of September for the financial year ending March
Upon request, we can also supply:
- a detailed account of work listed in your statement
- information on repairs to your block and estate included in your actual service charges
For works to your block or estate exceeding £250, we will formally consult with you. You can also arrange a one-to-one meeting with the Leasehold Management Officer if needed.
