Freehold:  the ultimate title to a property, owned by the person or company who owns the land that the property sits on; for a block of flats, the freeholder will usually be responsible for maintaining the structure of the building and any common parts for use by all of the leaseholders

Leasehold:  ownership of a property for a set period of time (usually between 99 and 999 years at the start), in return for payment of a premium. Leaseholders will usually be responsible for maintaining the interior of the property demised to them (the Demised Premises), and services which exclusively serve the property.

Lease:  the contract between a landlord and a tenant governing the relationship between them; the lease will outline each parties’ rights and responsibilities, and the extent of the property demised to the tenant

Head Lease:  where there is a chain of leases setting out ownership of different parts of a building the top lease in the chain is the head lease (sometimes referred to as a superior lease)

Sub Lease:  where this is a chain of leases this would apply to a lease flowing out of a head lease; in all other respects the definition is the same as any other lease

Demised Property:  the extent of the landlord’s property leased to the tenant, for which the tenant is responsible; the lease should set out clearly what is and is not the tenants’ responsibility

Managing Agent:  a company contracted to deliver services on an estate or in a building on behalf of the freeholder or landlord. The roles and responsibilities of the managing agent will depend on their management contract, but will usually include managing routine repairs and maintenance works, collecting service charge contributions and dealing with day-to-day queries on behalf of the landlord. Housing Solutions act as its own managing agent wherever possible, but we may also work with an external managing agent where the building or the wider estate is owned by another entity

Service Charge:  a contribution paid by a leaseholder to the freeholder towards the cost of insuring, maintaining , repairing and cleaning the building where they own a property

Reserve Fund (Sinking Fund):  a fund paid into by leaseholders and held by the landlord to cover the cost of anticipated future major works

Apportionment:  the share of the total service charge bill paid by each individual property

Ground Rent:  a payment made by a leaseholder to the freeholder or head leaseholder; payments are made periodically according to the terms of the lease

Shared Ownership Rent:  a payment made by a shared owner as rent on the unowned share of the property; payments are made monthly

Staircasing:  the process for a shared owner to buy additional shares in the property

Stamp Duty Land Tax:  a tax payable when purchasing land or property in England; you must seek independent advice if you need further guidance about this

Defects:  faults or issues in a property arising due to poor workmanship or failure of items during the warranty period

Fire Risk Assessment:  an independent assessment of the communal areas in a block of flats to identify potential risks and support management of them

Subletting:  where a tenant lets all or part of their home to another person

Notice of Transfer:  a notice served by an incoming leaseholder to the landlord telling them that the ownership of the lease has been assigned