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Buying or selling your home

Selling your home – about Partners’ sell-on pack

If you want to sell your leasehold property, we strongly recommend you ask us for a sell-on pack. This information pack is also known as an ‘assignment pack’ or ‘pre-assignment enquiries’. The sell-on pack contains essential information about the property that your buyer will want to know, including:  

  • the last three years' service-charge statements
  • money owing for service charges and major works 
  • buildings insurance
  • planned future major works 
  • current major works that we have not yet billed you for.  

We can give the sell-on pack, which currently costs £213, to the solicitor acting on your behalf. Your solicitor should contact us  to us ask for a pack.  They can pay over the phone with a debit or credit card or via BACS. Once we have received the request and fee, we will post or email the pack to your solicitor, normally within 10 working days.   We recommend that your solicitor asks for the sell-on pack as early as possible to avoid any unnecessary delays.  We will only allow you to complete your sale if you have cleared your service-charge account.  

  • The sell-on pack will show the current balance of your service-charge account. This will be all the charges we have billed you for, including charges  covering the period up to the end of the current financial year, 31 March.
  • You must pay the whole balance on your account, including any estimated charges that cover the period from the sale to the end of the financial year, 31 March. The account must be clear on completion.
  • We do not share the charges between the buyer and the seller. If you and the buyer want to do this, your solicitors must arrange it between themselves – we cannot get involved.

Sometimes, solicitors will want to hold back some money if:  

  • estimated charges are included in the balance on the account, or
  • major works have been done but we have not yet billed you for them.   

This is known as retention. Again, the solicitors must make such arrangements – we do not get involved.   After the sale is complete   

  • We need to update our records once a sale is complete and there is a set procedure for this. The new owners’ solicitor must send a Notice of Assignment to the Council's Legal Department, plus £69 – see Useful contacts for more details.  This is a condition of the lease and notices must be sent within a month of the sale completing.
  • We can only update our records to show the names of the new owners if: 
    • the Legal Department has received and acknowledged the notices, and
    • all arrears have been cleared.  

We cannot change our records without this, even if, for example, the new owners have already notified another department of the Council, such as the Council Tax section. If you are away from your home for a long period, you should:

  • ensure your home is secure
  • continue to pay your service charges
  • notify the Leasehold Services Team of your absence in case there is an emergency.

If you're re-mortgaging your home please contact us for a Leasehold Remortgage Pack which costs £152.

Landlord's Right of First Refusal  

Normally, Leaseholders who wish to sell their homes within 10 years of purchase are required to first offer to sell their home back to their former landlord or to another social landlord at full market value. The market value must be agreed between the leaseholder and the landlord. If the value can’t be agreed, the District Valuer will decide (the cost of the Valuation will be paid by the Government). If the former landlord or another social landlord does not accept the offer within eight weeks, the leaseholder is then free to sell their property on the open market.  

You can read more about selling your home and repaying discounts from the Government's  ‘Your Right to Buy Your Home’ booklet. 

Buying the Freehold or Extending the Lease

Only Islington Council can deal with selling you the freehold of your building and extending your lease. 

Visit the Council's website for more information about extending your lease or buying the freehold.

You can get more information on buying the freehold and extending your lease from the Leasehold Advisory Service.

 

Last updated June 2023