The Home Ownership Team

The Home Ownership team is multi-disciplinary and carries out various functions:

Leasehold Administration

The team does not directly handle estate management, however if you have a specific issue with the way your block or estate is being managed, we will ensure the Trust responds to your query.

The lease contains clauses on what the leaseholder can and can’t do in and around the flat. It also contains clauses on what we as landlord must and mustn’t do. The Home Ownership team ensures that both sides abide by the lease to everyone’s benefit.

The team also deals with formal consents for leaseholders, with assignment packs for solicitors (when leases are sold) and occasionally with deeds of variation (changes to the terms of the lease). A fee is charged for these activities to ensure you do not pay for someone else’s sole benefit.

Service Charge

The team calculates all the Trust’s service charges according to the terms of the leases, tenancy agreements and legislation. For further information on service charges, click the “Service Charges” tab on the left of this page.

Ex-AVDC Share Ownership leases

The Home Ownership administers all the shared ownership leases issued by AVDC. These older leases make the leaseholder responsible for repairs but the Trust is still responsible for the management of the estate around your home. Please speak to the Home Ownership team if you have any comments on the way your estate is managed, if you have any insurance queries, if you wish to buy extra shares, buy your freehold (100% of the shares), or if you wish to request the necessary permission to make an alteration to your property.

New Shared Ownership sales

The Trust has an ambitious programme of building new properties and sometimes these properties are offered for sale on a shared ownership basis, though the leases are slightly different from the ones we inherited from AVDC.

Because the construction of these new properties is funded in a certain way they are designated as ‘affordable housing’ and not everyone is eligible to buy them. We have to go through an assessment process which is vetted by AVDC and the prospective buyer has to provide a financial report showing they will be able to afford the mortgage repayments (on the share they buy) and the rent (on the share they don’t buy). They also have to show that they are local, that they need this particular type of property, and that their family income falls within a certain range. If you would like to register your interest for when a shared ownership property becomes available for purchase, please contact the Home Ownership team.

Commercial properties

The Home Ownership team manages the Trust’s Commercial Property portfolio which includes a range of shops, light industrial units and other business premises. Due to the specialised nature of commercial property management we retain a commercial agent to act on our behalf but for first contact, or if you have any queries, please contact the team.

Right to Buy/Acquire

If you have five or more years as a social housing tenant you may be eligible for the Right to Buy or the Right to Acquire. If you would like to know more about these schemes please click the “Right to Buy” tab on the left of this page.

Land Issues

The term ‘Land Issues’ covers a multitude of activities such as boundary determinations, easements, licences, consent for extensions, small land sales, land ownership queries and deeds of variation to freehold conveyances. In essence, it is anything to do with our property that is not building-related.

If you have any queries on any of these matters, or if you’re not sure who to speak to or how to progress a matter, please phone the Home Ownership team on 01296 732600 or email them at homeowners@vaht.co.uk.