Leasehold and Shared Ownership information sheet
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About
What is a lease?
A lease is a contract which allows someone to own or rent a property for a period of time. A lease can be ‘short’ or ‘long’.
Short leases last for a short period of time, for example: weekly, monthly or yearly. We refer to these as tenancies. Those who have a short lease are ‘tenants’.
Long leases last for longer periods of time, usually more than 21 years. Long leaseholders are usually referred to as ‘leaseholders’ and are generally regarded as homeowners.
What is Shared Ownership?
Shared Ownership is a housing scheme in the UK that allows individuals to buy a share of a property and pay rent on the remaining share.
Instead of owning all their home, shared owners own a share of it. The landlord owns the remaining share.
Shared owners may have the right to increase their ownership share. This is known as ‘staircasing’. We can consider complaints from shared owners who have increased their ownership to 100% but remain leaseholders.
Leaseholder and shared owner repairs
If you part own or lease your home, you can check the terms of your lease to see which repairs you and your landlord are responsible for.
The usual approach is that leaseholders and shared owners are responsible for:
- walls
- floors
- pipes
- central heating inside the home
The landlord is usually responsible for:
- structure
- foundations
- common parts/areas
In some cases, the landlord can complete any required works and ask leaseholders to pay it back via a service charge.
New build leasehold and shared ownership homes
For new builds, there’s usually a ‘defect period’ of up to 24 months. There’s a difference between:
- the home not meeting the cosmetic specification
- snagging
- a defect
- disrepair
You should check how long your ‘defect period’ lasts and report all defects, snagging, and other issues to the landlord and developer as soon as possible.
Where there’s a disagreement in the first 2 years, the warranty provider (if there is one) may be able to offer a dispute resolution process. If there’s a warranty, the warranty provider will only usually offer indemnity 2 years after completion.
Residents may be able to complain to the New Homes Ombudsman about the developer if it is a member of that Scheme.
We signed an agreement with the New Homes Ombudsman that sets out how we work together, and which complaint is for each service to consider.
The Housing Ombudsman and New Homes Ombudsman Memorandum of Understanding
If a social landlord builds or commissions new homes or offers shared ownership, we handle those complaints
What to do if you’re having a problem in your home
If you’re a leaseholder or shared owner, you should report any problems to your landlord. This includes:
- repairs or hazards in your home
- an unexpected charge
- a neighbour dispute
- building safety concerns
What your landlord should do
Your landlord should have a published policy that explains how it will respond. This could include:
- telling you who is responsible for any work needed
- explaining any charges or providing a breakdown of costs
- inspecting your property
Making a complaint about your landlord
Reporting an issue to your landlord is a service request. This is different from making a complaint about your landlord.
People often call both ‘a complaint,’ but they are different.
You can complain if you’re unhappy with how your landlord has handled your service request.
A complaint might be about:
- the level of investigation or action taken by the landlord
- the time it took the landlord to investigate or respond
- any action it should not have done, or you are unhappy with
To do this, you must use your landlord's formal complaint procedure.
Landlords' response to formal complaints
Your landlord must reply to a complaint in line with its complaint procedure. Our Complaint Handling Code sets out the timescales a landlord must respond to a complaint.
Stage 1:
- acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
- respond, in writing, within 10 working days of the date the complaint was acknowledged
Stage 2:
- acknowledge a request to escalate the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
- respond, in writing, within 20 working days of the escalation request being acknowledged
When to bring a complaint to us
You can bring a complaint to us for investigation if your landlord does not resolve your issues through their complaint procedure.
Tell us:
- what went wrong
- what your landlord should do to put things right
We need your landlord's stage 2 response before we can help. This is their final answer to your complaint.
You can refer your complaint to us within 12 months of your landlord's stage 2 response. We’re unlikely to investigate complaints referred after this deadline unless there are good reasons for the delay.
Help if your landlord does not reply to your complaint
We can help you get a response from your landlord if they do not follow their complaint procedure or our Complaint Handling Code.
Send us a copy of the complaint to your landlord. This helps us understand if your landlord follows its complaint procedure.
The easiest way to do this is by using our helpful online form. The form will ask you about your complaint and you can upload supporting evidence.
You can also phone, email, or write to us.
Complaints we cannot consider
We cannot consider complaints that:
- relate to complaints about unconnected third parties like developers or surveyors
- have been to court
- do not relate to housing management
- relate to the sale or disposal of local authority-owned properties, often called Right to Buy
- complaints where a shared owner becomes a freeholder after staircasing
- the conveyancing process and complaints about legal services
While leaseholders and shared owners can make complaints to us, it might not always be the most suitable option depending on the area of complaint.
We may not consider a complaint where we find it quicker, fairer, more reasonable, or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, another tribunal service, or procedure.
Disputes which can be decided by another body include:
- valuations by District Valuer Services
- negligent liability is for the courts
- allegations that one or more of the parties breached the terms of a lease, is for the courts
- rent and service charge levels and increases, is for the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
Helpful organisations for leaseholders and shared owners
The First-Tier Tribunal (property Chamber)
Can support on issues of level of service charge, lease extension, or breaches of lease agreements
First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
The Leasehold Advisory Service
The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) offer free advice on leaseholder and shared ownership matters.
The Leasehold Advisory service
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) can help resolve disputes about independent surveyors.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
District Valuer Services (DVS)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) provide independent, impartial, valuation and professional property advice across the entire public sector, and where public money or public functions are involved.
Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) can help with mortgage valuation disputes.
New Homes Ombudsman Service
The New Homes Ombudsman handles complaints about new build home developers.
The Legal Ombudsman
Is an independent complaints body that can investigate complaints about legal services in England and Wales.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) look at complaints about the sale or disposal of local authority-owned properties, often called Right to Buy.
Right to buy applications - Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
You may also find these useful
Reporting a problem
This information is for residents who need to report an issue to their landlord. This could be any problem, such as a repair, antisocial behaviour, or a query about a charge.
Rent and service charges
This information is for residents who have concerns about a charge they have paid or been asked to pay by their landlord.
Compensation
Find out about the types of compensation your landlord can make.
Leaseholder complaints
This key topic page shares information on how the Ombudsman can help with complaints from leaseholders.
Shared ownership
This key topic page shares information on how the Ombudsman can help with complaints about shared ownership.