Our statement of intent
The council wants to ensure that leaseholders are provided with clear and accurate information on their rights and responsibilities, and those of Harrogate Borough Council as the freeholder, across a range of services such as repairs and maintenance, service charges and sub-letting.
How we aim to do this
We will:
- Make leaseholders aware of the leaseholder handbook and will provide a paper copy of the handbook on request.
- Make sure that your annual invoices are sent to you each July together with a leaflet to explain how charges are calculated.
- Provide a summary of your rights each year with your invoices.
- Inform you in advance of all repair and planned works where your contribution will be over £250 unless the work is an emergency in which case we will tell you as soon as possible after the work is undertaken.
- Endeavour to tell you in advance of any works that are due to be undertaken to your block.
- Consult with you before we do any planned works, improvements or cyclical works (such as re-roofing and painting) to your building and we will abide by the procedures of the Leasehold and Commonhold Act 2002.
- Give you other options to pay for high value major repair or planned works when you cannot afford to pay for the works immediately. We provide more detail of those options in our leaflet ‘Ways to pay your service charges’ – please call our Customer Services Team if you would like a copy.
- Give you details of any of the services or repairs carried out to your block on request.
- Consult you about all long term contracts where your annual contribution is over £100 such as the five year repair contracts.
- Consult you about major changes to your service provision.
- Seek the views of the those attending the leaseholder annual meeting on proposals to change council services to leaseholders.
- Ensure that all leaseholders will receive the newsletter “Tenants News”.
- Ensure all our repairs staff and neighbourhood housing staff are trained on leasehold issues.
For general information on what it means to be a leaseholder and the services the council provides see:
- the Leaseholder Handbook
- the Service Charges Explained leaflet that is sent each year with leaseholder invoices
Leaseholders may raise individual matters with the council at any time by contacting us. Contact us.
Leaseholders may raise more general matters of concern by attending the leaseholders’ annual meeting. All leaseholders will be sent an invitation to the annual meeting.
How performance is monitored
Performance issues are discussed at the annual meeting of leaseholders. In addition, we encourage representation from leaseholders on the various tenant / leaseholder participation panels the council supports.
You can find more details on our tenant involvement page.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this standard, please contact us.