Other liabilities
Insurance
Having purchased the space and altered or converted it, your property will have to be re-valued for insurance purposes. This will ensure that you contribute the correct proportion to the council’s cost of insuring the whole building.
Service charges
Your property's rateable value (RV) may have to be recalculated as all property RVs are based on the number of habitable rooms in a property. So, if you convert the new area into an extra bedroom, this will raise the RV of your property.
Repair costs
If it is agreed by the landlord that you can carry out alterations or conversion works, a clause will be added to your lease. This will:
- cover the first 15 years from completion of these works
- state that you will be liable for covering the whole of our costs in remedying defects to the structure of the building that arise as a result of works and alterations you carry out.
It will also be written into your lease that you will cover extra costs where we must spend extra on, for example, specialist scaffolding or contractors to accommodate your alterations or conversion.
Relocation of communal services
Where services such a TV aerials, meters and pipes have been relocated to facilitate your alteration, the cost of doing this and compensating other residents for the temporary loss of services, will be wholly carried by you.
Repairs
As per the terms of your lease, you will remain responsible for the interior of your newly acquired space. As the freeholder, the council will remain responsible for the repair and maintenance of the structure and communal areas of the building, and will contribute to this under the terms of your lease.