Our latest news


For all the latest news that could affect your leasehold property read on:

What's happening?

  • 1 April 2012

Ground rent and estimated service charge invoices for 2012/13 have now been issued to all of our leasehold customers.  You will find information about how to pay your invoices in the booklet ‘Your Estimated Service Charge and Ground Rent Invoice 2012/13’ which was enclosed with your invoices.

If your service charge account was in credit before this invoice was issued this does not show on your invoice, however it will show on our system.  Our Income Team can confirm the overall balance of your account before you make your payment.  The Income Team can be contacted on 0191 278 8757.

  • 14 March 2012

We are currently finalising the estimated service charge invoices for the forthcoming financial year (2012/13) and they will be issued at the beginning of April 2012. You will need to ring NCC Payments on 0191 277 7208 to pay your balance in full, alternatively if you can not afford to pay in full you need to ring our Income Team on 0191 278 8757.

If your service charge account was in credit before this invoice was issued this does not show on your invoice, however it will show on our system. the Income Team can confirm the overall balance of your account before you make your payment.

  • 1 April 2012

With effect from 1 April 2012 Notice of Transfer fees will be increased to £80 per document.

  • 24 November 2011

The latest edition of Leasehold News was sent out to all leaseholders last week. You should now have received your copy.  If not, please contact us or visit Leasehold newsletters to read a copy.  

  • 30 September 2011

The Actual Service Charge Invoices for 2010/11 have now been issued which you should have received a copy of. This invoice includes charges for any repairs that have been carried out to the block where your property is situated throughout the year. We have previously notified you, in writing, of any repairs that have been completed and the cost of them.

If there is a balance on your invoice that needs to be paid you will need to ring NCC Payments on 0191 277 7208, alternatively if you can not afford to pay in full you need to ring our Income Team on 0191 278 8757. From now on we will only be issuing you with one ground rent invoice for each financial year, instead of issuing you with an estimated and actual ground rent invoice as we have done in the past, this is because your ground rent is set at £10 per year under your lease terms and will always remain the same.

  • 2 June 2011  

The latest edition of Leasehold News was sent out to all leaseholders last week. You should now have received your copy.  If not, please contact us or visit Leasehold newsletters to read a copy.  

Articles in this edition include a fire safety update, home improvements news and information on the painting programme.  There is also a summary guide to your lease terms which we hope you will find useful.

Pease take your time to read this and please let us know if you have any suggestions for articles for future editions.

  • 5 April 2011

The estimated service charge and ground rent invoices for 2011/12 have now been issued which you should now have received. You will need to speak to our Income Team on 0191 278 8757 to arrange payment.

If your service charge account was in credit before this invoice was issued this does not show on your invoice, however it will show on our system. the Income Team can confirm the overall balance of your account before you make your payment.

More information on your service charges is available by clicking here

  • 17 August 2010

We are currently finalising our accounts for 2009/10 and we will be issuing your Actual Service Charge invoice once this has been completed. We are aiming to get this sent out to you in September.

This invoice will show an amount for any repairs carried out to your block during 2009/10 which you will already have been notified of in writing throughout the year.

  • 24 June 2010

Following an unforeseen delay with the estimated service charge and ground rent invoices for 2010-11 we have now been able to issue your invoice. You should receive this within the next few days. Please contact the Income Team to pay on 0191 278 8757.

  • 26 March 2010 – Estimated Service Charge Invoices 2010/11

We are in the process of finalising our estimated costs for the forthcoming financial year. Once this has been completed we will be issuing the Estimated Invoices for 2010/11. 

  • 24 March 2010 - Leasehold News Spring Edition

Please look out for the latest edition of Leasehold News which has been posted out to all Leaseholders who have requested a copy – you will be receiving your copy within the next few days. If you have not requested a copy of this and would like to be sent one, please contact us and we will add you to our mailing list.

The Leasehold Newsletter contains lots of important information on being a Leaseholder and any policy or legislative changes that could affect you and your property and we would recommend that you take the time to read this.

For those who haven’t requested a copy, it is available to read online as well - visit Leasehold newsletters now.

  • 16 November 2009 - Leasehold News

Please look out for the latest edition of Leasehold News which will be posted out to all Leaseholders who requested it within the next few days.  The Autumn edition also contains our annual report that has been compiled following the Leasehold Satisfaction Survey that was carried out a few months ago.

For those who haven’t requested a copy, it is available to read online as well - visit Leasehold newsletters now.
 
If anyone would like to receive a copy of Leasehold News, please contact us and we will add you to the mailing list and send a copy to you.

  • 23 September 2009 - Invoices

The Actual Invoices for 2008/09 have been issued and are currently being posted out to all Leaseholders. They will show if your account is in credit or debit after our Finance Department finalised the accounts for the year. If your account is in debit please arrange to pay any amount due within 14 days by contacting our Debt Recovery Team on 0191 278 8757.

  • 10 June 2009 - Leasehold News

Please look out for the latest edition of Leasehold News which will be posted out to all Leaseholders who requested it within the next few days. For those who haven’t requested a copy, it is available to read online as well!  Click here to download the newsletter (pdf).

If anyone would like to receive a copy of Leasehold News, please contact us and we will add you to the mailing list and send a copy to you.

  • 1 April 2009 - Estimated Annual Service Charges 2009/2010

All Estimated Service Charge Invoices for 2009/2010 are currently being posted out and you will receive this within the next few days. Due to legislative changes we are required to send you a separate invoice for your Ground Rent so you will be receiving two separate invoices this year.

Any existing payment arrangements, including direct debits, will no longer apply.

The lease which all Leaseholders have signed states that all service charges are due in full in advance of the financial year.  If these charges have adversely affected you, instalments may be considered but this will be at the discretion of Your Homes Newcastle and you will be required to provide evidence of income and expenditure to prove financial hardship.

  • 1 April 2009 - District Heating

The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal advised us that we need to invoice Leaseholders who are connected to a District Heating System separately to the Annual Service Charges so this element will not appear on your invoice.

You will receive a separate invoice for this shortly.

Please note failure to pay heating charges may result in Your Homes Newcastle taking steps to disconnect you from the district heating system.

  • Gas servicing

We wrote to all leaseholders recently to ask them if they would be interested in a gas servicing scheme if it was available.

Following the responses we received, City Build (part of Newcastle City Council) has been putting together a gas servicing programme which is designed to look after your appliances.

City Build already provides a comprehensive and dependable gas servicing programme to both public and private organisations and they are now going to offer this service to Leaseholders too.

You will receive more information about this service, including prices and how to sign up, in the post very soon.

  • Leasehold drop-in events

We recently held some drop in events across the city to give Leaseholders the chance to come and discuss any issues they have in an  informal setting with members of the Leasehold Team.

The events were successful and we will be holding more of these events later in the year. Dates of future events will be announced soon. 

If you indicated on your Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey that you didn’t want to receive such invites but would now like to be invited to future events, please contact us

  • Leasehold Valuation Tribunal – result

As many of you might have read recently in the local news, Your Homes Newcastle was challenged by a group of leaseholders from St Ann’s Close at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

The case centred on increases in Service Charges and estimates for carrying out Decent Homes work. 

We have now received the tribunal's decision which found that the bulk of our charges are reasonable. However, there will be implications for some leaseholders whose charges will rise due to the requirement for us to charge in full for all services to the block.

We are particularly proud that the LVT have scrutinised what is essentially a complex legal consultation process for Decent Homes work and found it to be fully compliant.

We are currently working through the determination which will be a lengthy process due to the scope of the case. All Leaseholders who are going to be affected by the decision will be notified in due course.