Making improvements or alterations to your leasehold property
Get information on what to do if you're a leaseholder of a former Be One Homes or Bolton Council property and would like to make improvements or alterations to your property.
How to make changes to your lease:
Whilst we’ve tried to include as much information as possible, our webpages might not cover everything. If you’d like to speak with us about your lease, please get in touch. We’re here to help.
Please note that this is just a guide and doesn’t replace your lease.
How do I extend my lease (leaseholder extension)?
You can ask us to extend your lease at any time.
Before you proceed, we’d recommend you speak with a solicitor for legal advice based on your lease terms.
Tap here for details on the the typical costs/fees required to extend a lease. These fees are all payable by the applicant and are subject to change.
- Please note that houses and flats have slightly different terms.
If you’d like further information, please get in touch.
Purchasing the freehold title (houses only)
If your house has previously been sold on a leasehold title, we'll sell the freehold title to the current leaseholder.
Please note, we may not own the freehold title – but we’ll advise you of this. If you’d like further information on your title, you can tap here to visit the ‘Search for land and property information’ page on the gov.uk website.
Tap here for details on the the typical costs/fees required to purchase the freehold title. These fees are all payable by the applicant and are subject to change.
If you’d like further information, please get in touch.
What should I do if I plan to sublet (rent out) my home?
As a leaseholder, it's important that you tell us if you plan to sublet your property.
As a responsible landlord, we need to know who is residing within our block. If you choose to sublet your leasehold property, you should:
- Provide the tenant's contact details and the contact details of any management company appointed to manage the letting of the leasehold property.
- Ensure that the tenant complies with all provisions contained within the lease. As the leaseholder, you're responsible for how the tenant conducts their tenancy.
- Ensure that all costs due to us under the terms of the lease continue to be paid.
As the leaseholder, you’ll still be required to maintain the property and pay the service charges.
As a landlord, you’re responsible for your tenant’s safety. This means that you’re legally required to undertake a number of important safety checks and considerations if you plan to sublet your home.
It’s a criminal offence for landlords to provide appliances or items of furniture that do not comply with respective safety regulations. You can tap here for more information on important gas safety implications if you plan to sublet your home.
If you’d like further information, please get in touch.
What should I do if I plan to sell my home?
You can sell your home at any time.
Leases are subject to a five-year discount repayment period. This means that if you sell your home within five years of buying it, you must pay back a percentage of the discount.
Who should I tell when I sell?
Your lease states that you must inform us when you sell the property within one calendar month. If we don’t receive this information, we may charge a fee if we have to investigate who the new owners are.
Your solicitor must notify us when you’ve accepted an offer so that we can advise them on what you owe us for day-to-day service charges, major works, building insurance, and ground rent.
If you’d like further information on the charges you’ll need to pay when you sell your home, please get in touch.
What is a Transfer of Equity, and when might I need to transfer the equity of my property?
Transfer of Equity is a term that refers to changing the ownership of the property.
There may be a time when you want to remove or add a name to the lease for your home. Here’s what you need to do if you’d like to change the ownership in your property, either to joint or sole names.
When might I need to transfer the equity of my property?
There may be many reasons why you may wish to transfer the equity of your property. This could be down to a change of circumstances where one person is no longer living at the property, or when a partner moves in.
There’s no legal requirement to add a partner to the ownership of a property if they’ve moved in.
If you live in a Shared Ownership property, any new tenants will be subject to eligibility and affordability checks before they’re added to the lease. We can refuse to add new tenants if they don’t meet the criteria for Shared Ownership.
Please note, there will be a fee payable in advance to change names on a lease.
Changing from joint names to a sole name:
To approve a change of ownership in the property to a sole name, you must:
- Complete an application form and return this to us.
- Provide confirmation of your mortgage lender’s approval (if applicable).
- If you own your share outright, with no lender involved, we may ask for other supporting documents such as payslips and bank statements to show affordability.
- Instruct a solicitor to carry out the legal work and complete the transfer for you.
- Your solicitor will notify us of completion, and we will update our records.
Please note, if a Court Order dictates an owner needs to be removed from the deeds of the property, we’re obliged to do this without going through an application process.
Changing from a sole name to joint names:
To approve a change of ownership in the property into joint names:
- Complete an application form and eligibility form (with applicant’s details) and return this to us.
- Provide confirmation of your mortgage lender’s approval to the transfer.
- Where applicable, the new owner will be asked to confirm their eligibility for Shared Ownership, and we'll send the joint application for an independent affordability check, where you'll need to provide payslips, bank statements, and ID.
- Instruct a solicitor to carry out the legal work and complete the transfer for you.
- Your solicitor will notify us of completion, and we'll update our records.
If you’d like further information on transferring the equity of your property, please get in touch.
Can I buy the freehold for a block of flats of which I'm a leaseholder (Enfranchisement)?
We'd recommend you seek legal advice if you'd like to buy the freehold for the block of flats of which you are a leaseholder.
There’s a process to follow and criteria which need to be met. This is a complex process and all costs associated would be the responsibility of the applicants.
If you’d like further information on transferring the equity of your property, please get in touch.
Get more information on your lease:
Making changes to your lease
Get information on making changes to your lease (if you own a home that used to be owned by Be One Homes or Bolton Council).
Major works to your building (leaseholders)
Learn more about how we'll sometimes need to carry out major/large scale works to your building (for leaseholders of former Be One Homes or Bolton Council properties).
Leaseholder rights and responsibilities
Get information on your rights and responsibilities as a leaseholder (if you own a home that used to be owned by Be One Homes or Bolton Council).
Leasehold repairs
Get information on repairs for leasehold properties (if you own a home that used to be owned by Be One Homes or Bolton Council) and who is responsible for what.
Ground rent and service charges for leaseholders
Get information on ground rent and service charges for leaseholders (if you own a home that used to be owned by Be One Homes or Bolton Council).
Fees for leaseholders and Shared Ownership owners
See the full list of fees for Be One Homes leaseholders, including admin fees, consent charges, and costs for extensions, improvements, and legal documents.
Speak with us about your lease:
- We're here to help. If you'd like more information on your lease, please get in touch.
You can call us on 01204 328000 or email leaseholdmanagement@beonehomes.com. You can also write to us at:
Leasehold Management,
98 Waters Meeting Road,
Bolton,
BL1 8SW.