Housing Solicitors in Leeds - Richardson & Co. Solicitors LLP

Richardson & Co LLP are a specialist law firm with considerable experience in social housing conveyancing.

Leasehold Schemes for the Elderly (LSE) are run by a small number housing associations and involve you buying a proportion (e.g. 70%) of the equity of the property, the remaining portion being owned by the RSL. When you sell, you receive the same percentage of the market value.

Leasehold Schemes for People Over 55

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) currently operate two schemes designed specifically for people over 55 who can live independently. For both schemes, applicants must be 55 or older (in the case of a joint application, only one partner has to be 55 or over).

Each property is subject to a lease, which describes how the property is managed, the services that the RSL provides, the roles and responsibilities of the leaseholder and the RSL resale procedure. A monthly service charge towards the day to day running costs of the scheme must be paid. The services provided will vary from scheme to scheme but generally will include:

• Buildings insurance
• Grounds maintenance
• Heating and lighting of communal areas
• Maintenance of shared hallways, corridors or staircases.
• Sinking fund (a fund to offset the cost of future major repair work)

Leasehold Scheme for the Elderly (LSE)
Under this scheme, you can buy the property for either 70% or 75% of the market value and the remaining share is kept by the RSL to ensure that the property remains affordable and can only be sold on to people that qualify for the scheme.

This scheme is ideal if you are aged 55 or over and you are retired or reaching retirement age and your home is becoming a burden, either physically or financially. If you currently own a home, you will need to show that selling your current property would not give you enough money to buy a suitable home outright. The scheme is not available to investors or to people who do not intend to live in the property as their only or main home.

Shared Ownership for the Elderly (SOE)
This scheme works in a similar way to the LSE scheme. You can buy a 99 year lease but may pay either 50% or 75% of the market value. If you choose to buy an initial share of 50%, the lease will allow you to buy a further 25% at a later date. An affordable monthly rent will be payable on this 25% share until you buy own 75%. If you can buy 75% immediately, you do not need to pay any rent. As with the LSE scheme, the RSL will own the remaining share.
Before making an assessment of housing need, the RSL will take all the following into consideration:

• Your existing housing conditions and the length of time you have been in this position.
• Your ability to cope with these conditions.
• Your ability to purchase and meet outgoings without hardship.
• Your ability to purchase outright a similar property.

The RSL will consider your application for a waiting list. When a property becomes available, they will make arrangements to visit you in your home and make an assessment of your housing need based on the eligibility criteria.
The RSL will then write to you within ten days to let you know if you can buy the property under the scheme. If you are not successful we will keep your application on the waiting list for future properties.

If the RSL are unable to accept you onto the waiting list they will write to you, giving the reason. However if your circumstances change in any way, they will consider a new application.