Sovereign's responsibilities
If you live in a flat
We are responsible for the repair and maintenance of the main structure and outside of the building.
We are also responsible for the shared parts and any shared services to your building. But we will charge back to you any costs we incur in providing these services if your lease allows us to. The areas we are responsible for will depend on the type of property you live in, but will generally include the following:
- Insuring the building (but not your contents)
- Allowing you to live in your home without being disturbed by us as long as you pay all the charges you are responsible for under the lease, and you do not break any conditions of your lease.
- To collect rent, ground rent and service charges to cover your share of the costs of the repair, upkeep and management of your estate
- To make sure that service charges are reasonable and explain how we have worked them out
- To consult you about issues that may have an effect on the services we provide
- To consult you before carrying out any major work to your block of flats or estate. Any work costing more than £250 per home is classed as major work.
- To consult you before entering into a long-term agreement (more than 12 months), which may cost you over £100 in a year
- To manage your sinking or reserve fund according to your lease. A sinking fund is a sum of money set up to pay for major works
- To keep the structure and shared areas (inside and outside) of flats clean, tidy, well-maintained and in good repair.
If you live in a house
We are generally responsible for the following:
- Insuring the building (but not your contents)
- Allowing you to live in your home without being disturbed by us as long as you pay all the charges you are responsible for under the lease, and you do not break any conditions of your lease
- To collect rent, ground rent and service charges to cover your share of the costs of the repair, upkeep and management of your estate
- To make sure that service charges are reasonable and explain how we have worked them out
- To consult you about issues that may have an effect on the services we provide
- To consult you before carrying out any major work to any shared areas on your estate. Any work costing more than £250 per home is classed as major work.
- To consult you before entering into a long-term agreement (more than 12 months) which may cost you over £100 in a year.
- To manage your sinking or reserve fund according to your lease. A sinking fund is a sum of money set up to pay for major works.
- To keep any shared areas clean, tidy, well-maintained and in good repair.
- We may have additional responsibilities for homes which have a New Shared Ownership Model lease which you will have been advised of when you purchased it.