Housing and estate services over Christmas
See our holiday service pages for information on housing and estate services opening times over the Christmas and New Year period.
Your lease
Types of lease, what's in your lease, additional regulations.
A lease is a legal agreement between you (the leaseholder) and the landlord (the Council). Haringey Council usually owns the land and the building in which your property is situated, manages the day to day services and carries out work where necessary. The lease is the main document which sets out the responsibilities of both the landlord and the leaseholder.
Types of lease
There are 3 main types of lease, depending on when you bought the property. These are:
- leases relating to properties sold before 1 April 1990
- leases relating to properties sold since 1 April 1990
- leases relating to properties sold since April 2013
The main differences between the first 2 leases are the formulas for calculating the service charges, and your liability for the cost of improvement work. The leases from April 2013 include provisions for a sinking fund and a flat management fee.
What's in your lease
The lease:
- defines your property and the building/estate it forms part of
- allows you to occupy the flat for a fixed number of years
- places certain conditions on its use and occupation
- requires us to manage and maintain the outside of the building, the structure and communal areas
- requires you to pay a share of our costs in providing services and carrying out work to the building your flat is in and the grounds and estate around it (‘service charges’)
- makes you responsible for the internal decoration and repair of your flat
Viewing and understanding your lease
You can ask for a copy of your lease from your mortgage lender, solicitor or the council’s legal department. There is a charge of £114 for this service. However, you can download a copy of the standard lease documents below.
As a leaseholder, it is very important to know what you are responsible for, as well as what Haringey Council (acting for the landlord) are responsible for.
You can also download a copy of our Plain English guide to your lease . This explains the council’s standard lease in everyday English.
In some parts, the standard lease will differ from yours. Where this occurs, we explain the differences. There is a lot of law that covers leasehold matters but we don’t refer to it in the Plain English guide to your lease.
Additional regulations
Under Clause 4(4) and the Fifth Schedule, Regulation 7 of your lease, the council has made a number of restrictions and regulations which apply to all leaseholders regardless of whether they are included in their lease.