Buying a council flat
If you decide to buy your flat or maisonette you will be buying a leasehold interest in the property and you sign a long-term lease agreement. In most cases this is 125 years. The agreement is with Stoke-on-Trent City Council, which is the freeholder of the block.
A leaseholder is a person who pays the owner of a piece of land or a building in order to be able to use it. The freeholder is the owner of a particular building or piece of land.
Essentially this means that unlike buying a council house, you will not own the property outright. You will be buying the right to live in the property for the duration of the lease but the land the property is located on or the apartment block will be owned and managed by us.
In all cases you will have to pay an annual ground rent of £10 to the council and in most cases there will be yearly service charges for the cleaning and maintenance of the block or building plus a management charge of 15 per cent. You will also be liable for the costs of major works to a block such as lift or roof replacement.