Selling your leasehold property

Contents

Is permission required?

You do not need our permission to sell your home. 

I bought my flat under the Right to Buy do I have to sell it back?

If you bought under the Right to Buy scheme

  • on or after 18th January 2005 and
  • wish to sell your property within 10 years of buying it, 

You must first offer it to us.

A letter of compliance will need to be obtained to show that this obligation has been met.

When we have a right of first refusal it does not mean that we will proceed with the purchase, however we must be offered the opportunity to do so. The decision on whether or not to proceed will depend on our requirements for particular property types at the time, the location of the property and the availability of funding.

Please remember that in all cases the new owners (if the Council does not re-purchase) will be unable to register their ownership with the Land Registry unless formal confirmation that the restrictions have been complied with has been obtained from the council.

You will be advised of our decision whether to accept or reject your offer up to 8 weeks after receipt of your application. This is a statutory period.

There is a fee of £300.00 for the letter  of compliance to be issued. If you pull  out of the process prior to its issue then £150.00 of this is non refundable. 

Payment details will be discussed by the team that deals with this process and they will contact you or client directly. If the Council decides to purchase then the costs of the letter will be met from the sale price.

Download a Right-to-buy resales form or contact the Leasehold Management Officer on landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk.

If I bought the property and the Right to Buy and wish to sell it will I have to repay the discount?

If you bought your home under the Right to Buy scheme, you can sell it whenever you like. If you sell within the discount repayment period you will usually have to repay some or the whole of the discount.

The discount repayment period may be three or five years depending on when you bought your home.

Details of how much to pay back can be found on the Selling your home pages of GOV.UK.

What is the sales pack?

The Seller's Pack will provide information about your property to the buyer’s solicitor. Also, if you are re-mortgaging your home your lender will often want the information in the Seller’s Pack.

Only you or your solicitor can request a pack. We will not provide a Seller’s Pack to the person(s) buying the property.

What is contained in the sales pack?

The Seller’s Pack will include:

  • an up-to-date statement of your service charge account showing any invoices outstanding 
  • a copy of the current service charge estimate 
  • copies of the service charge accounts for the previous three years 
  • details of the building insurance 
  • statements about fire and asbestos risk assessments 
  • copies of Section 20 notices about major works 
  • basic information about any work the council may carry out to the block/estate in the future
  • general information about the property such as how many flats there are in the building and how many have been sold

How much does a sales pack cost and how do I make payment?

The Seller's Pack costs £312.00 and payment can only be made by bank transfer. We do not accept cheques.

You can make the payment only by bank transfer using the details below: 

Account name: Oxford City Council 
Bank: Barclays (Reading) 
Sort code: 20-71-29 
Account number: 30750662 
Reference number: SP: Then enter the Property Address 

Cheques are not accepted.

What must I do after payment has been made?

After payment has been made:

  • you must contact the Leasehold Management Officer to confirm that the payment has been made
  • you must  provide the Leasehold Management Officer with the name and full contact details of both the potential purchaser, and their solicitor, and proposed sales date 
  • you must inform the purchaser’s solicitors that they must provide a formal notice of transfer to the Leasehold Management Officer and pay the fee of £85.00 after the sale has been completed. If they do not do this the account will remain in the name of the existing leaseholder
  • it is a clause in the lease that the leaseholder within one month must provide Oxford City Council with a certified transfer document. We will enforce this clause and recharge all our costs to the existing leaseholder if this not adhered to

The Leasehold Management Officer can be contacted on landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk.

How long does it take to provide a sales pack?

We aim to provide the sales pack within 10 working days of receiving confirmation of payment.

What information is required after the sale?

On completion of the sale, you must send the formal Notice of the Transfer confirming the new leaseholders’ details to the Leasehold Management Officer within 5 working days of the sale completion date.

The Leasehold Management Officer can be contacted on landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk.

There is a fee of £85.00 for this.

You can make the payment only by bank transfer using the details below: 

Account name: Oxford City Council 
Bank: Barclays (Reading) 
Sort code: 20-71-29 
Account number: 30750662 
Reference number: TFEE: Then enter the Property Address 

Cheques are not accepted.

Do you require details of the purchasers?

Yes we require the following details of the purchaser:

  • Full Name(s)
  • Date Of Birth(s)
  • National Isurance Number(s)
  • Telephone Number(s)
  • Email
  • Correspondence Address if they don’t intend to live at the property

Will I receive a copy of my lease?

Your solicitors should provide you with a copy of your lease and you should read this to understand your obligations

How can I make service charge payments?

Once we have received a notice of transfer we will create a payment reference for you which will begin with 9. You can then make payments by quoting this. See our methods of payment.

What services am I paying for?

Your solicitor will provide you with the current full years estimate of the service charges which will list all of the services you are charged for under the service charge
The service charge year runs from 1st April  to 31st March and service charge demands are then sent out quarterly as follows:

  • Quarter 1; 1 April to 30 June
  • Quarter 2; 1 July to 30 September 
  • Quarter 3; 1 October to 31 December
  • Quarter 4; 1 January to 31 March 

Unless otherwise agreed with your solicitors you are responsible for the charges from when your sale completed.

You will be contacted to make a payment for the remaining part of the quarter for when you purchased and will then receive a demand for payment for the next full quarter e.g. if you completed your sale on 15th October you will need to make a payment for the remainder of quarter 3 which will be 15 October to 31 December, and will receive  demand for the full quarter which will be quarter 4.

Payments can be made monthly by direct debit and you can do this by contacting  our Incomes Team on 01865 249811 and quote your payment reference number.

End of year reconciliation

At the end of each account year we check the costs of the services and repairs  provided to your block. In September you will then be sent a statement of actual service charges for the previous account year.

If your estimated service charge was too low we will send you an invoice asking you to pay the additional amount.  If your estimated service charge was too high we will advise you of the credit to be put on your service charge account.

Important Checks

It is important that you satisfy yourself as to the condition of your property and any services benefiting the property. For your own protection, before you decide to buy your property, you should consult a buildings expert and qualified legal advisor to advise on what surveys you should carry out and you should arrange for those surveys to identify any defects hazards or risks.

Singletree Sales Information

Re-sales at Singletree are dealt with by surrender of the existing lease and the grant of a new lease which is 99 years in length.

The lease at Singletree also has a clause which includes a sinking fund. The intention of a sinking fund is to build up sufficient funds to offset the cost of major or cyclical works e.g. roof replacement.

This avoids the need to send out invoices after these works have been completed which can often be quite large.

When you are ready to proceed with a sale please be aware of the following:

  1. your estate agents details must be sent to the Home Ownership Officer at landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk.
  2. if acting on behalf of the leaseholder we will require a copy of a power of attorney or copy of probate - this must be sent to the Home Ownership Officer at landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk
  3. the Purchaser must be over 60 and provide proof of this to us e.g. passport, driving licence. NB a birth certificate on its own is not acceptable for the purposes of ID. When marketing the flat you must make this clear. Proof of age eligibility of the purchaser  must be sent to the Home Ownership Officer at landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk
  4. there is a clause in the lease that the sinking fund recovery is chargeable as an exit fee based upon 1% of the purchase price for each full year of occupation
  5. the lease states that the property is to be kept in a good condition and that we can make a deduction from any sales price towards ensuring the property is in good decorative order
  6. after a sale has been agreed we must have a memorandum of sale to include the purchase price - this must be sent to the Home Ownership Officer at landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk

If you have any queries about the above please contact the Home Ownership Officer at landlordservices@oxford.gov.uk or 01865 249811.

Contact the Tenancy Management Team

Address: Town Hall
St Aldate's
Oxford
OX1 1BX

Telephone: 01865 249811

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