We are committed to providing homeowners and leaseholders with an excellent service, in accordance with the terms of your lease. This service standard sets out how we will do this when:

  • Dealing with enquiries relating to sales, lease agreements, rent and service charges
  • Consulting with you over major works or long-term agreements
  • Dealing with enquiries relating to improvements and alterations to your home

Sales enquiries 

What we will do for you

  • On request, we will provide you with information on the sales process for your property within 10 working days e.g. shared ownership, staircasing (purchasing further shares in your property), assignments (re-sales) or other leasehold assignments. Please be aware that not everyone will be eligible to purchase 100% of their property, as certain restrictions may apply
  • Respond fully to conveyancing enquiries and sales requests from solicitors within 20 working days e.g. leasehold questionnaires
  • Aim to complete all staircasing sales within 90 days from solicitors’ instructions
  • Ensure all Right to Buy and Right to Acquire sales enquiries and transactions are completed within statutory timescales. More information about these timescales can be found here. If we are unable to respond to you within our set timescales, we'll tell you why and when you can expect a full response
  • Please be aware that there are some restrictions on Right to Buy and Right to Acquire. Once we have completed all our checks, we will confirm whether or not you are eligible.

All we ask of you in return

  • Please contact us prior to putting your property on the market or taking any other action.

Lease enquiries 

What we will do for you

  • Advise you, on request, and in your chosen method of contact, if and how you can extend, or vary your lease. Where this is possible, we will provide you with a written overview of the 
    process within 10 working days
  • Provide you with an electronic copy (via email) of your lease agreement, subject to an administration charge.

Rent and service charges 

What we will do for you

  • Provide you with accurate and timely information about your rent, service charge and other charges. This includes:

    A review of your rent and service charge (if applicable) in accordance with your lease. This is usually completed on an annual basis by means of a rent and service charge review letter

    Issuing a copy of your budgeted service charge annually

    Providing you with a copy of the actual service charge expenditure, within six months of the end of every service charge year

    Issuing you with a statement of rights and obligations with every demand for payment
  • Provide you, on request, with an annual building’s insurance summary of cover (where we are responsible for providing this under the terms of your lease).

Consulting with you 

What we will do for you

  • We will carry out consultations (known as Section 20 consultations) whenever we plan to deliver major works, or enter into qualifying long-term agreements for services, for which 
    you are required to contribute to in your annual service charge, including:
    Major Works – works which may exceed £250 per leaseholder, e.g. communal roof repairs, window replacement, etc

    Qualifying long-term agreements – an agreement for services which may exceed £100 per leaseholder per annum, e.g. buildings insurance, communal services such as cleaning and grounds maintenance
  • We will review all comments we receive during the consultations, providing you with a written reply within 21 days. 

Improvements and alterations

If you wish to make any improvements or alterations to your home, you must first obtain permission from us at Your Housing Group (YHG), in writing. This is essential for us to confirm that the proposals do not affect the structure or safety of the building. Failure to gain consent can also delay a future sale of the property. 

What we will do for you

  • Respond, in writing, within 10 working days
  • Not unreasonably withhold consent; however, we may require further information from you before we can grant permission for your improvement/alteration request
  • Advise you if we will require access to your home to complete an inspection either prior to the works and/or once they have been completed.

All we ask of you in return is 

  • Your request must include detailed information about the works you propose to undertake and who will be completing the works, including any drawings/specifications where possible
  • Please contact us before making any improvements or alterations in accordance with the terms of your lease.

Information about individual properties and services

Services vary by scheme and are specified in individual leases. If you need information about a specific property, please contact Your Response.

We will know we are getting this right by 

  • Gathering feedback from surveys, complaints, and compliments to improve our service continually
  • Through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
    The number of Right to Acquire and Right to Buy applications and completions
    The average completion time for shared ownership staircasing completions
    The number of improvements and alterations requests received and the response times
  • Through the Tenant Satisfaction Measures in relation to Low-Cost Home Ownership.