Letting your flat

Remember that whereas you may 'own' the lease for a particular unit within Augustus Court, you do so only with the consent of the Augustus Court freeholder, Abbotdeal, subject to your compliance with the terms, conditions & covenants within the legal lease agreement that you have with Abbotdeal.

You are required under those covenants to keep Abbotdeal and Termstake, and so therefore your fellow shared freeholders, informed of changes relating to your unit that you wish to make before you commit to them taking place.

As owner/leaseholder, you can let out your flat to a third party or maybe for use by a member of your family. It is not only courteous for you to inform your fellow owners of this should you go down this route but you also need to ensure that your tenants will not disrupt the peaceful environment of Augustus Court or cause a nuisance to the other residents, especially other owner/occupiers.

Remember that the lease agreement is always between you and Abbotdeal (freeholder) and that, in letting out your flat, you remain responsible for any breach of covenants of that lease by your tenants or if they fail to adhere to the expected code of conduct described in the Information for Residents. It is your role to police this and to ensure they read this section of the website.

If you want to let your flat/maisonette then the following processes must be followed in all cases, whether your are letting for the first time or whenever there is a change/extension in tenancy.

When you have made the decision to let (or let again, in the case of a change of tenant), you are required to notify Abbotdeal of this in written form. This is one of the covenants in your lease agreement. Part of the process of managing non-owner occupiers involves the landlord issuing a Licence authorising the letting to proceed. Abbotdeal will not withhold issuing the Licence on unreasonable grounds but it does reserve the right to withhold issue if not satisfied with the Notification. In addition the agency handling your letting must check that the Licence is obtained properly.

No licence, no authorisation, no let.

The Notification needs to be sent to the Managing Agent (see Contact page) and will only be accepted if it has been sent by the leaseholder registered with Abbotdeal for the flat. The only exception to this is in the case of the death of a leaseholder when the Notification will be accepted from an authorised family member or solicitor. This Notification must be in written form - either in the form of a letter or by email (managing.agent@augustus-court.co.uk).

As part of the Notification please ensure the following details are included:

Name of the current owner/leaseholder
Address of the unit to be let
Your UK address (a physical one and not your flat) to which all written correspondence should be sent during the period your flat is being let
Name, address, telephone and contact name for the letting agency
Name, address, telephone and contact name for the managing agency
Name, current contact details of intended tenant(s) (if known at this stage)

Until you have received written acknowledgement in return from the Managing Agent, no estate agent advertising boards are permitted to be displayed. In most cases permission will be granted as part of the acknowledgement but this cannot be assumed. If there are too many such boards (for sale or to let) on display at the same time then permission will not necessarily be given. If you are using more than one estate agent then only one board may be displayed for each unit being sold. The Managing Agent is authorised by the Directors to:

decline permission to display estate agency boards where deemed necessary, and
request the removal of any boards - removal to be done within 48 hours of notice.

Of particular importance, no boards must be nailed to any part of the front boundary/retaining wall. Even if they use sub-contractors it is still the agency’s responsibility. Nailing signs into the bricks or the mortar between the bricks weakens the wall structure. Any boards must be free-standing or tied to the brick pillar. Please ensure your agency understands that, by law, it must remove the board within 14 days of a new tenancy agreement having been signed.

Please ensure that the name(s) and contact details of the new tenants are made known to the Managing Agent as soon as they are known and confirmed, i.e. before they move in.

Please also direct your new tenants to this website so that they become familiar with the information made available on it to all residents - owners and tenants.

You are reminded that by letting your property you are not absolved of responsibility for the behaviour of your tenants.