Managing my lease
Reporting repairs
Normally with a house, you’ll be responsible for all repairs and maintenance.
We know that finding the right trades person to deal with a repair can be challenging. We would recommend using reputable companies. You can find the government endorsed trades website ‘Trustmark’ by clicking here.
Your lease will explain fully which repairs you are responsible for and which repairs we’re responsible for. You will normally be responsible for the interior of your home.
We know that finding the right trades person to deal with a repair can be challenging. We would recommend using reputable companies. You can find use the government endorsed trades website ‘Trustmark’ by clicking here.
To report a repair a communal repair in a shared spaces outside of your home, or if you’re unsure about who’s responsible for a repair, please call 0345 60 20 540.
How long a repair will take will depend on the urgency and also where the repair is. Our expected times for completing repairs are as follows:
- Emergency repairs – We’ll attend and repair or make safe within 24 hours
- Routine Repair – Repairs which aren’t health or safety concern will be completed within 28 days.
Roof repairs and other major repairs can take longer as they may be reliant on scaffolding and a licence from the local authority if this affects a public footpath. This may take up to 90 days.
Some repairs or replacements may require us to enter into a Section 20 Consultation (this is a requirement by law) and where this is applicable works will take longer but we’ll keep you updated.
Insurance
We insure the building on your behalf. More information about the Building Insurance cover can be found here.
If you make a claim on the building’s insurance, you’ll need to pay the excess related to that claim. We arrange for the building’s insurance cover to be in place, we don’t manage the claims on your behalf. This is because you’re best placed to let the insurers know about issues and organise appointments etc with them.
If you have any difficulties making an insurance claim or after you’ve claimed, you can get in touch with us on 0345 60 20 540 and we’ll be able to help you.
Keeping your personal items (contents) insured is really important in case they become damaged or get stolen. It’s your responsibility to insure your own belongings. To help with this, we've teamed up with Royal & Sun Alliance to provide low-cost contents insurance specifically for you. Take a look at this offer here.
My Service Charge
The service charges you pay each month will depend on what sort of property you live in.
Your service charge is a variable service charge which means we can change the amount you pay by giving you 1 month’s notice. However it’s really unlikely that your service charge amount would change during the year. We usually review them each year in April.
Your service charge is calculated based on known or estimated costs for the upcoming year. Where exact costs are not known, we’ll base it on what we reasonably think it will be using past trends, past years’ spend or estimated upcoming spend.
At the end of each service charge year (normally the end of March), we’ll calculate the real spend and see whether you overpaid or underpaid for any services. This helps us plan better for the next year.
Some of the items that make up your service charge might be for the upkeep of open spaces away from your home which another company/managing agent provides. In those cases, we will be implementing the costs they set in your service charge and cannot overrule/amend the amount.
If you are struggling to pay your rent or other bills then we have a Money Advice Service which all our shared owners can access for free:
Listening to your views means that we can shape the services we provide based on your feedback and give you a better experience.
We have a focus group made up of Shared Ownership residents. If you’d like to register your interest in joining this focus group and sharing your views then please contact our customer scrutiny team at customerscrutiny@midlandheart.org.uk or phone 0345 60 20 540.
A lease extension is a mechanism by which you can extend your original term. As long as we own the lease, we offer lease extensions of 90 years on top of the existing lease term. for the existing terms plus 90 years provided we are the freeholder.
To find out more, please click the button below:
We’re made up of four Leasehold Property Officers, two Administrators, a Leasehold Manager and a Head of Mutuals and Leasehold.
The team cover all things related to leasehold, shared ownership, right to buy/right to acquire and a portfolio of commercial lets. Find out more by clicking the button below:
