Solicitors Questions

Please find detailed below information regarding the Colchester Borough Council lease. 

Please note that this information does not relate to any individual property and applies to all of our leases.  Should you require any further information relating to a particular lease, such as any breaches of the lease, annual service charges amount, service charges remaining, repairs and painting due to be carried out, the fee is £105.75 including VAT.  This is for up to 20 questions only.

Please make all cheques payable to Colchester Borough Council.

• The landlord is Colchester Borough Council.
• All housing stock is managed by Colchester Borough Homes Limited. P O Box 7888, Colchester C03 3YB.
• DX number: 729040  Colchester 15
• Telephone number: 01206 282977
• Fax number: 01206 506924

• The financial year runs from 1st April to the 31st March.
• Ground Rent is £10.00. Please contact us for the total amount of service charges for the year.
• We do not anticipate more than a 3% increase in service charges.

• Please note that we require payments up until the end of the financial year in order to consent to the lease being transferred.  Please contact us for the total amount due.
• The new leaseholder will be able to pay monthly by Direct Debit from April. Please apportion the amounts due between your clients and send to the total cheque with the yearly amount to us together with the Notices. 
• Colchester Borough Homes will not consent to the lease until payment is made until the end of the financial year.

• The Notice of Transfer is £58.75 inclusive of VAT.  There is no charge for registering the Notice of Mortgage.
• Please make all cheques payable to Colchester Borough Council and send to Colchester Borough Homes Limited. P O Box 7888, Colchester C03 3YB and detail what property this relates to.
• Please note that Colchester Borough Council lease states that once the property has been transferred the Notice of Transfer and Notice of Mortgage must be sent to us within one calendar month.
• We also require the balance for the remaining financial year at this time. Please contact us for the amount due.

• Colchester Borough Council has purchased an all block policy for flats.
• There is no sum insured per property.
• This is an annual charge of £59.37, which is invoiced with the Service Charges. We also make a note of the mortgagee’s interest.
• We automatically provide cover when the lease is transferred.

• Our freehold is unregistered; therefore we do not hold office copies.

• The Colchester Borough Council lease is for 125 years.

• We send an Actual Statement in October for information which will be then credited or debited in April when we send out the yearly Service Charges and Ground Rent invoices.

• External painting is carried out every 7 years under the terms of the lease.

• If any major works are planned and the work exceeds £250.00 a full consultation will take place with all Leaseholders in the block.

• Should the Leaseholder wish to rent the property, they must write to Colchester Borough Homes Limited. P O Box 7888, Colchester C03 3YB to inform us of this, together with a correspondence address and contact telephone number.
• There is no fee for this.

• There is no sinking fund.