You own it · IV
A lease
You own the flat and you do not own the route out of it. Your title stops at the front door; the hall, the stairs, the lift and the forecourt belong to somebody who has views about move days, insurance and the paintwork.
Nobody is being obstructive. The freeholder is responsible for the communal decoration and it is recharged to the leaseholders — which includes you.
What a leasehold move involves
Ask the managing agent first
Before you book us, before you book a cleaner, before anything. Managing agents are rarely quick, the requirements vary from building to building, and the answer is binding once it arrives.
What they usually want: notice of the day, a copy of our public liability insurance certificate, and confirmation you will observe the permitted hours. Some also want a lift booked and a deposit against communal damage.
Why the certificate request is reasonable
Because the hall and the staircase are the freeholder's responsibility, maintained through the service charge, which the leaseholders pay. Damage there is a collective bill rather than a private one.
So it is asked for almost universally now, and we send it as a matter of course once you tell us who to send it to. It is a two-minute job that removes a whole category of problem.
Two numbers in a lift
The car and the door opening, and they are different. People measure the car, conclude the sofa fits, and find on the day that it cannot be angled through the doors to get inside.
In the older mansion blocks along Putney Hill the lift was frequently retrofitted into a stairwell and both numbers are small. Measure them at the outset.
What is a fixture and what is furniture
If you are selling, the contract says. If you are letting, the tenancy does. Either way, anything fitted is worth checking before it is unscrewed — and where there is doubt we leave it and ask rather than remove it and apologise.
Everything here is a general description rather than legal advice. Your solicitor and your lease are the authorities.
A lease
Questions about a lease
- 01
What do managing agents usually ask for?
Notice of the day, our public liability insurance certificate, observance of any permitted move hours, and often a lift booking. Ask them the week you exchange rather than the week you move.
- 02
Can the freeholder refuse a Saturday?
Leases and house rules commonly restrict move hours and some exclude weekends entirely. It is their rule rather than our reluctance, and it is binding on us as well.
- 03
Do you protect the communal areas?
As standard, always. Marked communal walls are the most common post-move dispute in a shared building and very nearly all of it is preventable.
- 04
What if the lift is out on the day?
Then it is stairs, and a crew sized for a lift will struggle. We ask about the lift's reliability at booking, and in buildings with previous we crew for stairs from the outset.
- 05
Are the shutters and fitted wardrobes ours?
Check the contract. Fitted items can be fixtures, and taking one listed as included is the commonest post-completion argument there is.
- 06
Can you park on the forecourt?
Where the building permits it, which is also a question for the agent. Otherwise we find a standing point on the street and plan the carry accordingly.
What did you sign?
Both addresses, and what kind of agreement governs the one you are leaving. That second answer tells us most of what we need to know.