Your lease
What's in your lease? An overview
You can get advice on your lease from The Leasehold Advisory Service – a government funded independent organisation that provides free legal advice to leaseholders.
Your lease is an important document – if you don’t have a copy you can order one from the Land Registry.
For more details, visit the Land Registry website.
Your rights and responsibilities
Your exact rights and responsibilities depend on your lease, but a general list can be found in the following document. If you have a question about your rights and responsibilities, please contact us.
Extending your lease
You may be eligible to extend your lease for an additional 90 years - on top of what is left. For example, if you have seven years left on your lease, you may be given a new lease of 97 years.
The Council does not enter into informal lease extension negotiations and will only accept formal requests through the service of the Section 42 Notice which your solicitor would be able to help you with.
You will have to repay our costs of getting a valuation, negotiating and granting a new lease to you. The fees and costs will be determined upon a formal request being served.
You may also find the independent guidance issued by The Leasehold Advisory Service helpful which also includes a helpful lease extension calculator.
Breaches of your lease
Where there is a persistent breach of any term of the lease, we can apply to the court for forfeiture of your lease. If forfeiture is granted, you would lose your home and any value that is in the property.
We would only do this in exceptional circumstances and where a persistent breach of the lease occurs. We will always send you notice of our intention, giving you an opportunity to correct the breach before we make our application for forfeiture.
Ordering a copy of your lease
Always keep your lease in a safe place, so that you can refer to it when you need to. If you need a copy of your lease you can:
- buy one from the Land Registry Service
- ask your mortgage lender for a copy (you may be asked to pay an administration fee).
You may be asked to pay a fee for these services.
Common terms in your lease
Your lease is a legal document and so uses legal terms. Some of the more common terms are explained here:
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Lessee
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Is you, as the owner of the leasehold for your property.
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Lessor
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Is the Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets i.e. the council, who owns the freehold of your property.
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Sub-lessee
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The person to whom you grant a lease or tenancy i.e. your tenant.
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The Estate
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All of the land, including gardens, flats, garages, parking spaces, stores and paths for the common use of residents.
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The Building
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The building or block of which your property is part.
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The Flat (sometimes called the demised premises)
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This is your property i.e. the flat number and building name.
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Fixtures and Fittings
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This refers to all the non-structural items included in the purchase of a property, such as kitchen and bathroom units, light fittings and worktops.
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Financial Year or Accounting Period
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The period from 1st April in each year to 31st March in the following year.
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Gross Rateable Value (GRV)
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The value assigned to your property by the District Valuer.
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Term
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126 years (Greater London Council – GLC lease) or 125 years (London Borough of
Tower Hamlets – LBTH lease).
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What laws apply to leases?
Leasehold properties are governed by different regulations: