General FAQs
The boiler will have an in-date service certificate upon completion. Under the terms of a self-repairing lease, you're responsible for the servicing and maintenance of the boiler after completion.
Only once you've submitted the appliance guarantee warranties with the product manufacturer(s) yourself. Integrated appliances or white goods are gifted with the home, and will not be repaired or maintained by Southern Housing.
Yes, you're responsible for setting up your own utility accounts from the day you move in. You can find the supplier details in your Home Owners Manual, and we'll provide you with meter readings on the day you collect your keys. Any bills up to your completion date will be paid by Southern Housing, after this date you are responsible for your own bills.
Our new homes have a 12 month defects liability period, from the date Southern Housing takes handover from the building contractor. Depending on when you move into your home you may have full, partial, or none of the defects period on your property. You'll find the expiry date in your Home Owners Manual, and on your completion handover form. Please be sure to check the date for your property, if the defects liability period has passed repairs will not be covered.
The home you're buying will have been through a snagging and de-snagging procedure before you move in. Snagging is conducted by the Southern Housing development team and building contractor prior to handover. As you're buying the property from Southern Housing and not the builder directly, you'll be unable to conduct your own snagging inspection.
Upon completion, you'll be required to pay one full month advance rent and service charge payment, your solicitor will collect this from you on the day you complete your purchase. In some scenarious, dependening on the day you complete, you may pay the remainder of the month plus a full month rent and service charge, this will be confirmed to you by your solicitor when you set your completion date.
Your rent will increase annually from 1 April, this increase will be outlined in your lease. If you complete your purchase on or before 30 September, your rent will increase the following April, however if your completion is after 30 September it won't increase until April the year after. For example, if you complete on 1 August 2023 your rent increase will be 1 April 2024, whereas if you complete on 1 October 2023, your rent won't increase until 1 April 2025. When you purchase a new home, the service charge is estimated for the first year, this is because no one has lived in the property to have any accounts or costs to base the service charge budget on. From year 2 the service charge will be set in line with expenditure plus the administration charge which will increase in line with the terms of your lease. Ask your solicitor for more detail on the service charge breakdown budget.
You'll receive a welcome letter from the Leasehold Team shortly after you complete your purchase, providing you with key contacts. Once your "My Account" has been setup on the Southern Housing residents portal, you can use this to check your rent/service charge payments, report issues, and make enquiries.
London Living Rent FAQs
The homes will be offered on tenancies of a minimum of three years.
Your actual rent will vary depending on the size of the home you rent, and which borough you will be renting in. Your rent is based on a third of average local household incomes and adjusted for the number of bedrooms in each home, but your rent will be capped at no more than 80% of a market rent figure for that home in that area of London.
To be eligible for a London Living Rent home, you must: 1) Be currently renting in London 2) Have a maximum household income of £60,000 3) Be unable to currently buy a home (including through Shared Ownership) in your local area.
If you are unable to, or choose not to buy the home you have been renting with London Living Rent after 10 years, your landlord may sell the home to another potential buyer via the Shared Ownership scheme.
Open Market Sale FAQs
If you are buying a new home, you may be buying off-plan without getting to view the actual home you intend to buy. This is completely normal and you’ll have a thorough explanation of the layout of the home via floor plans with dimensions, or by also viewing a show home. This may be up to 6 months ahead of when the homes are ready to be moved in to, so you’ll have plenty of time to plan the decor (and continue to save to buy new things for when you do get the keys!).