Home owners

Home owners are residents who own part or all of an MHA home.  This includes people who've bought a shared ownership home through our development company, Charter, and leaseholders who've bought their home through the right to buy or right to acquire schemes.

As an MHA home owner, you have certain responsibilities to MHA.  We, likewise, have responsibilities to you.  Please see your leaseholder handbook for full details.

Here is a brief overview of the main obligations contained within your lease.

You, the leaseholder, promise:

• to pay the ground rent on time in the manner detailed in the lease

• to pay the rates or any other taxes on the property and to share the payments of any rates or taxes for the common parts of the building

• to keep the interior of the premises clean and to maintain in good working repair any of the services that apply only to the premises

• to pay the service charge (if due) in the manner detailed in the lease

• to pay Magna’s expenses for any fees or charges made in connection with the property, eg. surveyors, accounts for management or maintenance or the collection of the ground rent. These people may be our own staff. This is included in the service charge

• not to alter the property without Magna’s consent

• to allow us to inspect the property inside and out following adequate notice stating this intention

• to allow us entry to repair any adjoining property or maintain any common services, following receipt of adequate notice of this intention

• to repair any defects within one month following receipt of a notice from us

• if repairs are not carried out, to allow us to enter the property, carry out those repairs and then charge you for the work carried out. We will provide estimates before carrying out such works

• only to use the property as a private residence

• not to cause a nuisance to adjoining occupiers or to use the property for illegal/immoral purposes

• not to do anything which would make our insurers refuse to pay out on any claim which we might wish to make.

We, the landlord, promise:

• to allow you to live in the property, provided that the ground rent is paid and that you have kept all your promises

• to keep the structure of the property insured. Note: There is no need for you to pay additional building insurance, for instance, through your Building Society. However, personal effects are not covered by our policy and it is important that you purchase adequate contents insurance

• repair, redecorate and renew the main structure of the building and the services which it uses, together with the common parts, you the leaseholder being responsible for a reasonable share of the cost.

• to enforce the rules against one occupier for the benefit of the other occupiers, provided that our costs are paid for by all the leaseholders.

Ending your lease

Each lease contains a provision that allows us to end your lease if you break some of the conditions, for example, if you do not pay the service charge or ground rent.

If we consider you have broken the conditions of your lease we will write to you to explain how you are breaking the conditions and what you must do to put it right. If you continue to break the conditions of your lease we may ask the court to end your lease.  We will only do this as a last resort.

The Court will ask us to prove that:

• You have broken the conditions of your lease, and

• It is reasonable for you to lose your home.

Selling your home

If you purchased your lease through the preserved right to buy or right to acquire scheme you would have received a discount on the purchase price. If you sell your home within 3 years of purchasing it from Magna you will be liable to repay a proportion of this discount.

The proportion you have to repay depends on the length of time since you purchased.

Less than one year - Full discount
More than 1 but less than 2 years - 2/3 of discount
More than 2 but less than 3 years - 1/3 of discount

Who can I sell to?

Many leases are covered by the Rural Restriction. This means you have to sell to someone who has lived or worked locally for the previous three years e.g. in West Dorset someone who has lived or worked in the Dorset area; in West Somerset someone who has lived or worked in Somerset or Exmoor National Parks areas.
The areas not covered by the rural restriction are:-

If your property is subject to this Rural Restriction it is important that you advise your estate agent of this when putting your property on the market. Most local estate agents are familiar with the Rural Restriction. The spirit of the legislation is to stop the properties becoming second homes.

Your own solicitor will deal with the legal formalities of the sale of your property. Your solicitor will normally ask us for certain information relating to service charge and insurance before the sale. Under the terms of your lease we are normally entitled to charge a reasonable fee for providing this information.

Subletting

Subletting of your property is permitted. If you wish to sublet your property you should notify us in writing of your intention and provide your forwarding address.

Information on service charges, ground rent and arrears and sinking funds »