Access

Your landlord must respect your right to use (enjoy) the property without any disturbance from them or anyone who works for them. In practice, other obligations might come before this one in your lease, for example, your landlord may have to carry out repairs that may cause some disturbance to tenants.

Example text you might see in your lease: ‘the lessee paying the rents hereby reserved and performing and observing the several covenants on the lessee’s part and the conditions herein contained shall peaceably hold and enjoy the Flat during the said term without any interruption by the Lessor or any person rightfully claiming under or in trust for the lessor’.

In a block of flats, the landlord is usually responsible for insuring the building (although this could be the responsibility of an RTM company or a management company if there is one).

Example text you might see in your lease: ‘the lessor will at all times during the said term insure and keep insured the building against loss or damage by fire or such other risks (if any) as the lessor shall think fit in some insurance office of repute’.

If your landlord is responsible for insuring the building, your lease will almost always allow them to recover a share of the cost from each of the leaseholders.

Your lease will usually state who is responsible for managing the building. This will often be your landlord, but they may employ a managing agent.

Although you will usually be responsible for repairing the non-structural parts of your property, responsibility for repairing the structure (including the roof and outside of the building) depends on the terms of the lease. In blocks of flats, the landlord will usually be responsible for maintaining and repairing the outside and structure of the building.

This is not always the case. For example, in a house that has been converted into two flats, the leaseholders might be responsible for repairing and maintaining the structure. Or, the leaseholder in the lower flat might be responsible for repairing and maintaining both the inside and outside of the building up to the first-floor level, and the leaseholder of the upper flat is responsible for everything above the first-floor level. In those circumstances, the lease should state who is responsible for maintaining any shared parts and how the costs should be split between the leaseholders.

Example text you might see in your lease: ‘the lessor will maintain and keep in good and substantial repair and condition the main structure of the Building including the foundations and the roof thereof with its gutters and rainwater pipes’.

What is considered a structural repair will depend on your particular building.