Selling or sub-letting

I want to sell my council leasehold property, what do I need to know?

If you sell your home, the lease will transfer to the new owner.  Any outstanding leasehold debts must be paid prior to completion of the sale.  If a solicitor requests information about your lease from us as part of the sale process a fee is payable, and they may pass the cost onto you.  It is therefore a good idea to provide your solicitor with any information that you hold about your lease and service charges.

The purchaser’s solicitor must give us details of the new owner within one month of the completion date, but it is a good idea if you let us know so that we can update our information for issuing service charge bills.  We will need the date of completion of the sale and your forwarding address.

Most of our leaseholders pay their service charges annually in arrears; in this instance, we will apportion the service charge bill when it is calculated at the end of the financial year.  We will send you the bill for the period that you owned the property to your new address, we cannot bill the new owner for a period that they did not own the property.

If you sell within the first five years of the lease you will have to pay back some, or all of the discount that you received. Contact the right to buy team for a repayment sum.

Email: righttobuy@eastriding.gov.uk

Tel: (01482) 396301

If you bought your property from the council, and applied to buy it after 18 January 2005 you are required to offer it back to the council before selling it on the open market. If this applies to you please contact the right to buy team.

Email: righttobuy@eastriding.gov.uk

Tel: (01482) 396301

If you have taken out our comprehensive buildings insurance you may be entitled to a refund of premium, if this is the case you should contact the leasehold services team.

Email: leaseholdservices@eastriding.gov.uk 

Tel: (01482) 396301

We can only cancel the policy from the day that you inform us, we cannot backdate a cancellation.

This information only applies to council leasehold properties that were originally purchased under the right to buy scheme. For information on other council leasehold properties please contact our valuations and estates team.

Tel: (01482) 393998

Can I sub-letmy council leasehold property?

If you sub-let your leasehold property, your lease requires that you must inform us. You will need to tell us who is living at the property, whether you have a managing agent and what your correspondence address is.

You must ensure that your tenant keeps to the terms of your lease, as you will be held accountable for their actions.

As a landlord you are legally responsible for making sure that any pipework, appliances (fires, boilers etc) or flues in the property are serviced annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer you can find an engineer through the Gas Safe website.  You must give your tenant a copy of the gas safety certificate and show them how to turn off the mains gas. 

Gas Safe (external website)

If you have taken out our comprehensive buildings insurance policy and you have not informed us that you have sub-let your property, your policy may become void and will not receive a refund of your premium. You should contact the leasehold services team and tell them if you are sub-letting your property.

Email: leaseholdservices@eastriding.gov.uk

Tel: (01482) 396301

This information only applies to council leasehold properties that were originally purchased under the right to buy scheme. For information on other council leasehold properties please contact our valuations and estates team.

Tel: (01482) 393998