Buying your home | Berneslai Homes

Article: Buying your home

As a tenant of Berneslai Homes you may have the right to buy your home.  This service is administered by Barnsley Council.  You can visit the Right to Buy Section for futher information. 

If you apply to buy your home, we are no longer responsible for carrying out some repairs to your home. We will remove your home from ongoing and planned programmes of major work, and we will only carry out repairs that we have to do by law. Major improvement work takes a long time to plan and organise, so if you decide not to buy your home after you began the right to buy process, your home may not automatically be included in a planned programme of work in your area.

Buying a Flat?

There are a number of differences when you purchase a flat that you need to understand before submitting your application to buy.

Firstly you become a “leaseholder” when you buy a flat and you are actually buying a lease from the Council which gives you the right to occupation and use of the property for an agreed period of time, usually 125 years. The Council continues to own the block including the exterior structure of the flat.  

If you are a leaseholder the Council, as landlord, is obliged to provide you with specific services and you will be charged for those services. These include:

• Service charges to cover the costs incurred for the day to day repair, maintenance and management of the block and for your share of the cost of any major works to your block.
• Ground rent on an annual basis.
• Buildings insurance.
• Management and administration costs.

Our Leasehold Management team offers an advice service and will meet with you to explain what it means to be a leaseholder. You are advised to visit out Leasehold section for more information. 

If you are in the process of buying a home and are either a current or previous tenant we may provide your bank/ building society with a mortgage reference.  

Information on Mortgage References

If you are a current tenant and have applied to buy your home under the Right to Buy scheme, you may find that before a bank or building society will give you a mortgage, they ask for a reference from us.

This is to make sure that you have been a good tenant and have paid your rent on time.

We must have a written request for a mortgage reference from your mortgage lender. The request must be signed by you giving us permission to pass the information on to the mortgage lender. We charge a fee for this service.

You or the mortgage lender can send this to Berneslai Homes through Barnsley Connects.

Before we do the reference you have to pay the fee. So remember to put the fee in with the request. Some mortgage lenders will pay the fee on your behalf and ask you for the money back. The fee needs to be paid in cash or by cheque. You need to write your name and address on the back of the check along with the words 'Mortgage reference'. Make the cheque payable to Barnsley MBC.

Once we have received the request, your permission and the fee, we will prepare and send the reference to your mortgage lender. We check and report the following to your mortgage lender.

• Rent payment history and arrears
• Other tenancy related debts. e.g. rechargeable repairs, hut scheme arrears, former tenants arrears.
• That you are following the terms of your tenancy.

Helplines

Information can be obtained from any Barnsley Connects Office.

Charges/ fees

We charge £60 for giving a mortgage reference.

Method of Payment Available

Some mortgage lenders will pay the fee on your behalf and ask you for the money back. The fee needs to be paid in cash or by cheque. You need to write your name and address on the back of the cheque along with the words 'Mortgage reference'. Make the cheque payable to Barnsley MBC.

How you can help us

Please remember to enclose your payment with your request for a reference. Do not send cash in the post.

Also remember to sign the request to give us permission to pass your details on to your mortgage lender.

Legislation

Data Protection Act