A ground rent notice which may include a ground rent adjustment will be sent to the homeowner once the ground rent review has been completed. It may not always be possible to complete a rent review ahead of the rent review date, for example while awaiting publication of the Retail Price Index to be used or a valuation. We do endeavour to include notification of a pending ground rent review on our ground rent invoices.
Leases may set out that a ground rent is to be increased in line with the increase in the value of the building or block. The First Value of the Building is the sum of the original premiums for each property in the building or block. The original premiums can be found in the leases for each property and will be available on completion of the rent review.
The Review Value of the Building or block is the sum of the open market valuations for each property in the building or block at the date of review.
A ground rent adjustment is calculated from the date the rent review is due, as set out in the lease, at the reviewed ground rent less any ground rent already invoiced for the period.
For example, ground rent of £250 per annum invoiced annually in advance for the period 1 January to 31 December is invoiced a month in advance of 1 January, i.e. 1 December. The ground rent is reviewed on 1 July increasing by £50 per annum. A ground rent adjustment is applied to the account for the period 1 July to 31 December for £25 once the review has been completed.
The lease sets out the date on which the ground rent review is due. Due to the timing of the rent review and invoicing periods an additional charge may be applied to your account to bring invoicing up to date.
Your lease sets out how the rent review is determined and you may wish to refer to your lease for full details.
The rent review notice includes information about a review and is now available on your Homeowner Online Services account.
The solicitor acting for you in your purchase of the property should have explained the lease terms to you including any ground rent reviews.
Wherever possible, we include advance notice of a ground rent review on ground rent invoices.
Your lease sets out how the rent review is determined and you may wish to refer to your lease for full details.
This will depend on the exact provisions in your lease. In some leases there is an opportunity to serve a counter-notice and/or make a request for an independent surveyor to decide the rent increase. Where an independent surveyor is appointed, you would often need to pay a contribution towards the surveyor's fees. You will need to check your lease to see what arrangements apply to you. We recommend that you seek legal advice when considering your options.
On 18 March 2022, the CMA announced that undertakings had been entered into in respect of properties developed by Countryside with leases which contain clauses which state that the ground rent will double every fifteen years. We wrote to homeowners of the relevant leases in April 2022 with an offer to vary the terms of their leases and a copy of our client’s offer can be viewed in the Documents section of your Homeowner Online Services account once you log into it.
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