Leaseholders and shared owners

If you own a flat or a shared ownership home, you will have a lease. Your lease sets out what you own and your responsibilities. It also sets out our responsibilities as your landlord.

Access everything you need to know about being a leaseholder or shared owner of a Hedyn home.

Shared ownership

Shared ownership helps you get onto the property ladder by paying for a share in a property with the option to buy the remaining share at a later date. You pay rent on the share you don’t buy and this rent goes down as you pay for more shares. Buying more shares is called ‘staircasing’.

Common questions

You will be registered as the owners of the leasehold title at the land registry.

The rent is set at the start of the shared ownership lease. It’s a percentage of the value of the property. The rent then only goes up once a year and this increase is based on either the Retail Prices Index (RPI) or the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

If you staircase, the amount of rent you pay goes down.

If you want to make alterations or structural changes to your home, please contact us first to get our permission.

Alterations or structural changes can include things like:

building an extension or conservatory
extending into a loft
knocking down a wall
replacing a kitchen or bathroom

Your lease may have restrictions on what you can and can’t do so you should check this. There may also be other planning requirements or rules that affect your building or estate.

You don’t need our permission for small changes like decorating or putting up shelves.

We provide buildings insurance for leasehold flats and some shared ownership homes.

If you own a shared ownership home your lease may give you responsibility for arranging your own buildings insurance – if you’re not sure, contact us. The cost of your buildings insurance and any services we provide to the block if you live in a flat, are paid through a service charge.

If we provide the buildings insurance and you need to make a claim for loss or damage, please contact us and contact the insurers direct to put in your claim.

The policy excludes the first £100 for any claim which increases to £250 in respect of subsidence, heave or landslip. This means that if you make a claim, the first £100 or £250 would not be covered and you’d need to fund this portion of the cost yourself.

Yes, you will need to provide your own contents insurance.

A lease extension is a way to add more years to your lease which can increase its value and make selling and remortgaging easier.

Find out more about lease extensions and how to apply to extend your lease.

If you are a shared owner, you can usually pay for more shares in your property. The price for more shares is based on the market value at the time you want to staircase. Most leases allow you to staircase up to full ownership although some leases may have restrictions.

For more information, contact us at homes@hedyn.wales.