We are going to discuss why a registered social landlord would have leaseholders in their properties

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Where does the funding come from?The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the national housing and regeneration agency for England, with a capital investment budget of nearly £7bn and are the governing body for Housing Associations . They contribute to economic growth by helping communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity and to deliver high-quality housing that people can afford. They provide investment for new affordable housing and to improve existing social housing, as well as for regenerating land.

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For example:

You wish to purchase a property valued at£235,000Minimum share purchase is 35%Which equates to £82,500Most banks will require 10% depositYou would only need around £8K instead of around £23K deposit which makes it more achievable to get on the property ladder.

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Eligibility of the Prospective buyers will need to be agreed by the Home buy agent, they will make the necessary checks to confirm the buyer is eligible. If they do not wish to register online and prefer to process a paper application, they can be found on our website under the sales section > important information> downloads.

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A brochure that provides good information on Shared Ownership, is the New Build Homebuy which is available to print in the CCL drive FM leaflets or on our website.

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Check with the caller that they are registered with the Homebuy Agent, if not advise them that we cannot assist them until they have had their eligibility checked and have received their registration number.

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An example of how we receive our income to build further homes and to put back in to the company

Apologies, I do not have the end of years figure available

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Social HomeBuy is funded under section 19(3) of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as Financial Assistance (FA)

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Right to Buy discounts to rise to 75% The Government is set to breathe life into its Right to Buy (RTB) plans and increase the discounts available for tenants to up to 75% of the property in a bid to reinvigorate interest in the scheme. Under the plans it is understood families could receive a 35% discount after five years' residency, with an extra 1% for each additional year, up to a maximum of £75,000. It had previously been expected that the maximum would be set at £50,000. Tenants in flats will get 50% off after five years, with 2% added yearly. Currently the maximum discount stands at £16,000 to £38,000 depending on location.

Currently there is no instruction relating to residents of Housing Associations receiving larger discounts to purchase their homes, but if the government are trying to offer incentives for people to own their own homes this may change.

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The Homes and Community Agency, the governing body for Housing Associations require that LH may acquire additional shares in their home, at a price equal to the relevant proportion of the current open market value of their home.

Leases drawn up before April 2006 - staircasing must take place within 4 steps to become 100% LH and you cannot staircase within the first 12 months of purchase. If LH purchased property as a resale they are unable to staircase until after 3 months

Leases drawn up after April 2006 - no limit on the number of staircasing transactions and staircasing can take place any time after purchase. If LH purchased property as a resale there is no time limit before they can staircase.

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Remember, If they own less than 100% of their property, any potential purchaser will have to complete an application with the Homebuy Agent and be approved. Potential purchaser must meet the criteria set down by the Government and administered by the Homebuy Agents to qualify to buy a shared ownership home.

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100% LH can sell to anyone without consultation with FM, we will be notified during sale/purchase process of the change of ownership

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Remember, Tony Residents Sales Team Manager has a waiting list of people looking for a Shared Ownership property

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If a LH wants a copy of their lease and it is not on Swordfish, a copy can usually be available to view as a PDF from Land Registry immediately. This is not always the case and some can take a few days to be sent to us.Always advise the LH that the request will take up to 7 days just in case any delays in postal services etc.

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This is the first year Family Mosaic have promoted Lease Extensions – It generates vital income for us, but is also offering our residents a service . Some of our leases are approaching less than 80 year left – This is known as short and can cause leaseholder problems gaining mortgages and have difficulties securing buyers when selling.

Remember- Family Mosaic do not own all our blocks and therefore we do not hold the freehold. The lease extension can only be increased to the amount of years that Family Mosaic have their lease for, with the Freeholder.

If you are unsure, you can check the residents lease on Swordfish if available, the lease may show the wording ‘Under lease’ this shows that there is a freeholder, Family Mosaic have a lease with the Freeholder and our leaseholder has a lease with us.UNDER LEASE

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Such requests can be processed through Front Office and will be dealt with by our Credit Control Team

Sometimes we receive calls where a Shared Owners home is no longer suitable for them and they would like to transfer to another FM Shared Ownership property. There is no scheme in place to do this, they will have to sell their existing property through us in the usual way and the Resident Sales Team will assist with their sale.Remember the Resident Sales Team have a waiting list for people who want Shared Ownership properties and may be able to match them with a potential buyer which will make their sale process far easier.

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In general, home owners review their mortgage every 3 – 4 years. Family Mosaic have approximately 2800 leasehold properties therefore we should be receiving remortgage application regularly. Until recently we had 6 in 18 months.Why do we need to know about a remortgage?- To ensure the leaseholder remain the same, to ensure that the new mortgage meets with HCA guidelines.To ensure the mortgage is a shared ownership mortgageTo ensure Family Mosaic are aware of the new lender so that our Building Insurance policy is noted.To ensure no additional borrowing is requested except for Home ImprovementsTo ensure Home Improvements are approved by our Asset Management team to ensure no problems to the structure of building or cause problems to their neighbours.

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Shared Ownership agreements prohibit subletting by the owner to protect the public funds and ensure applicants are not entering in to affordable home ownership for commercial gain.

For residents who purchased their property under Social Homebuy scheme- The whole point is that it is the persons main home which they have bought with the benefit of a Grant. We have to protect the grant funding for the 5 years, therefore they are not allowed to sublet within this period. If they wish to rent out and are 100% owners then the following applies:

The lease they sign states that we will consider letting in the same way as we do for shared owners with our reasonable costs and disbursement paid. So for a short period with a suitable reason – work sabbatical etc. The difference with Social Homebuy tenants is that they have to provide a copy of the tenancy agreement with their request to sublet.

If they have a flat there is a sub clause within the lease which says that if they wish to sublet then they have to also provide a copy of the tenancy agreement and pay Family Mosaic 1% of the monthly rent. This doesn’t apply to houses.

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Example of the Repairs obligation on the intranet

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If there is no Building Insurance payment showing, it may be that this building is not owned by FM and we lease the building from the Freeholder, the insurance will be included within the management fees.

The resident would have to contact them to arrange a claim. Details of the Managing Agent would have been provided to the Leaseholder when they moved in to their home.

Managing Agents contact details will usually be available in the communal area.

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Reserve fund/Sinking fund  is money held in an interest gathering bank account and is put aside to contribute towards the cost of future cyclical decorations or major works to the block or estate. The aim of the fund is to cover the cost of major works so that the LH’s are not faced with large bills when the works take place. If there is not enough money in the reserve fund to pay for these works then the LH will have to make up the difference. This money is not refundable if you were to sell your home you would not be repaid any of the money. But your solicitor will advise the new purchaser of how much the LH has contributed to the fund.

If the Works are urgent and cannot wait for the consultation to be carried out then FM can apply to the LH valuation tribunal for the permission for the works to be 

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carried out without going through Section 20 process.

Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) is an independent decision making body which can make decisions on a variety of disputes relating to residential leasehold properties. The panel on LVT consists of three members: a lawyer, a lay person and a valuer. LVT has the authority to enforce payments of claims and legal fees, dismiss or partly dismiss claims, and attribute fees. 

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DisposalsPeter Stratford arranges for properties to be sold at Auction, these are properties that are no longer cost effective for us to maintain. Therefore we sell them. If the property is a flat then there will usually be ground rent and possibly service charges if any services provided by FM. If a house we will normally sell as a freehold property therefore no further responsibility to FM.

Buy to LetAt the moment we have one block Effra Parade which was built for the sole purpose of people purchasing to rent out as an investment. There

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will be more of these in the future

100% purchase no criteria or eligibility, just built by FM in the capacity as a developer

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All this money goes towards building new homes, so you can see how important Leaseholders are to Family Mosaic and our business.

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