Buying, selling and remortgaging a council-managed property
What you need to do if you're thinking of buying, selling or re-mortgaging a property.
Buying or selling a property
If you want to buy or sell a property we manage, you should get a sell-on pack. This is also called an assignment pack or pre-assignment enquiries.
Read our advice about service charges when selling or buying on this page.
About a sell-on pack
This pack includes important information for buyers, such as:
- average service charge
- outstanding service charges
- building insurance premium and coverage (for leasehold properties)
- planned major works to the building or estate
- major works already done but not yet invoiced - the new owner will be responsible for these costs.
- copy of the lease or transfer.
Major works charges can be different from one contract to another depending on the type of work and type of building. In some cases, it can cost several thousands of pounds.
Check the cost of buying a sell-on pack
How to get a sell-on pack
Usually, the seller's solicitor will request the pack and send it to the buyer's solicitor. We can't provide the pack directly to interested buyers or their solicitor.
If you're the seller, you should request the pack as early as you can. When we receive the request and fee, we will email the pack within 10 working days.
Service charges when selling or buying
You only pay service charges when you own or live in a property.
When you buy a leasehold property, you must pay for any charges - old and new - when the next service charge bill comes in, usually September every year. You can also use any leftover credit on the next bill unless you agree to refund this to the seller.
It is up to the buyer and seller to agree how much the seller pays towards the next bill to cover their time as owner.
Working out service charges to pay on completion
We bill every September for the financial year (1 April to 31 March). The invoice includes:
- expected (estimated) service charges for this financial year
- the actual amount (adjustment) to pay for last financial year - this will be a credit on the property account if the charges were lower than the estimate
Usually, on completion of sale, the seller will pay:
- service charges left unpaid from their time as owner
- an amount of money to cover some of the estimated annual service charges for the financial year when they owned the property (a “retention”) - you can work this out by:
- dividing the service charge estimate by 365 (days in a year)
- multiplying by the number of days in the financial year that the seller owned the property
If you don’t have an estimated invoice yet, include a sum in the retention agreement for this.
Retention agreements
We are not part of negotiations about retentions or service charges between sellers and buyers. You should get legal advice about retentions.
The retention agreement should include:
- a sum to cover any annual service charges from an estimated bill
- any major works that have been undertaken where you’ve received a section 20 consultation notice but you haven’t received an invoice yet
Buyers and sellers should agree a small percentage increase to the sum in case we underestimate the charges.
The seller may want a refund of any credit from when they were owner but were added to the service charge account after selling the property. This should be included in the buyer’s agreement.
Working out retention amount with no estimated bill
If the buyer or seller has not received a bill for the current financial year yet, the seller needs to include a sum to cover their share of the costs for this year.
You can work this out by:
- taking the average of the last three years’ service charges
- dividing by 365 (days)
- multiplied by the number of days in the financial year that the seller owned the property
Re-mortgaging a leasehold property
If you are re-mortgaging your leasehold property, the lender will want to know that the service charges are paid up-to-date and they will also want some information about the building insurance. We provide this information in a re-mortgage pack. Check the cost of buying a re-mortgage pack.
Buying a property where the council is the freeholder
If you’ve bought a residential property where we are the freeholder, you’ll need to pay the registration fee for the notice.
Pay the registration fee for a leasehold notice
Advice and information
Get more information about buying a council managed property on GOV.UK