TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP

Membership can be in respect of any leasehold property in England and Wales. For these purposes, the definition of a leasehold property is one where the lease was originally granted for a period of longer than 21 years.

Note: Multiple leasehold owners of one property will be treated as Leaseholder Association (LA) members only if the LA is given full details of all owners at the time of registration and details of their primary contact. The primary contact must have the consent of all co-owners to act on their behalf.

Accommodation occupied by landlord or management company staff will not be covered by LA membership regardless of the tenure of this accommodation. Where there are leasehold flats let within the block, the flat will qualify for LA membership and the leaseholder will be the LA member.
Membership will continue for the entire period that a member holds a leasehold interest in the property registered for membership. Membership is not automatically transferable to a new owner. A member can transfer their membership to the purchaser within six months of their LA membership commencing at no further cost to either party. If a LA member for more than 6 months sells or transfers the leasehold interest in their flat they may have the option to purchase LA membership for the new owner at a discount rate.
Membership of the LA will commence from the date the subscription fee is paid in full or the date a first instalment is paid. The LA reserve the right to terminate membership without notice if an instalment payment is not received when due. All payments to the LA may be made by credit card, debit card, BACS or PayPal.
If a flat owner owns more than one flat in a block additional LA memberships in that block will be at discount of 50%, increasing by 10% per additional flat. (Membership for a 6th flat or above in the same block will be free of charge)
Each new member will receive confirmation of membership within 14 days of payment. Access to the members area of the LA website will usually be immediate.
A member may give permission to another individual, but not another organisation, to represent them, deal with their case and communicate with the LA. If so, the member must provide the LA with the personal representative’s full details in the section provided on the membership application form and where appropriate notification of any power of attorney. Completion of the application will be taken by the LA as evidence of authority for the representative to act on the flat-owner’s behalf.
The LA cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from the LA member’s delay or failure to notify the LA of any change of personal details, such as change of name, telephone numbers, e-mail address or change of representative.
Membership may be cancelled at any time by contacting the LA in writing including e-mail but the fee will not be refunded in full or part if the member decides to give up membership for any reason.
LA membership gives members the following LA services free of any further charge:
- Access to detailed information sheets which will be available on-line; these will be kept updated to reflect changes in legislation, regulations, case law, Tribunal decisions and approved codes of good practice.
- Standard advice in response to telephone or e-mail enquiry, which does not require sight of supporting documents, analysis or research.
- Specific advice, which requires analysis of documents from the LA member, a response in writing and support in more complex cases (subject to ‘11’ below).
- Correspondence with the LA member’s landlord, manager or other third party where this might be appropriate.
- Notification of response to the LA member and follow-up at the LA’s discretion.
- Use of the LA’s impartial Conflict Resolution Service utilising Service Charge Panels for service charge disputes and Conflict Resolution Committees for all other leasehold related matters. Notification of the outcome to the LA member, which will be final.
- A quarterly newsletter.
The LA reserves the right to charge an additional cost for the following:
- On-site conciliation meetings, at the discretion of the LA, where the case has not been or could not be resolved by advice or correspondence or the LA decides this is unsuitable for conflict resolution or a meeting was deemed necessary for the matter to be decided by conflict resolution.
- Property inspections in exceptional circumstances where it might be appropriate for LA staff to visit leasehold property.
- Tribunal, court or any other type of professional representation.
- Referral of case for expert legal opinion.
- Assistance with issues affecting all of the leaseholders within the block or estate (Where appropriate, the other leaseholders may be invited to contribute to costs).

Note:The services the LA may provide to members at additional cost may require referral to or representation by an associated solicitor. The LA reserves the right to determine when enquiries or requests for legal assistance need referral to a solicitor. This would always apply to the ‘reserved activities’ set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, which only qualified solicitors are authorised to carry out. Once a case has been referred to a solicitor, LA staff can no longer provide specific advice on the matter and the member would be required to communicate directly with the solicitor in that regard, which would include an agreement on the solicitor’s fees.

The LA reserves the right to decline to provide representation at a tribunal or court if in the opinion of the LA there is no reasonable prospect of success or if the amount in dispute would be disproportionate to the legal costs.
The LA reserves the right to request payment before any of the above additional services are provided.
The services to be delivered to LA members are restricted to the leasehold ownership of flats and apartments and their management.
LA staff will provide specialist advice on:
- Landlord and Tenant legislation
- Explanation and scope of leases
- Company law (relating to Resident Management and Right to Manage Companies)
- Disability Issues (relating to housing adaptations)
- Health and Safety legislation (relating to residential property)
- Government approved codes of practice (relating to leasehold issues)
- Courts and Tribunal services (relating to leasehold issues)
If a member contacts the LA with an enquiry that is outside the above areas of expertise they will, wherever possible, be signposted to an alternative organisation.
The LA reserves the right to refuse to give advice on cases in which solicitors, accountants, consultants or other advice agencies have already been instructed. The LA will not re-visit cases that have been determined by Tribunals, courts or by other avenues of redress.
The LA will not be responsible for any financial loss or other consequences arising from a member’s failure to follow specific advice provided by the LA or from a member’s independent actions taken without the written approval of the LA.
The LA reserves the right to restrict its conciliation services on a reasonable and fair use basis at the discretion of the LA.
LA members can access information and standard advice immediately but the LA reserves the right to restrict access to its specific advice and conciliation services with respect to matters arising prior to membership.
The LA advice and conciliation service is primarily an online facility and all enquiries should be made by using the LA website. Typically, the service will be available to LA members between 9am and 5pm on Mondays to Fridays excluding bank holidays. All online enquiries will be referred to an LA adviser within 2 working days. The LA adviser will respond to the LA member, except in exceptional circumstances, between the hours of 9am to 5pm and within the following time-scales:
- Request for information – 3 working days from receipt of enquiry.
- Request for standard advice – 5 working days from receipt of enquiry.
- Request for specific advice – 15 working days from receipt of specific enquiry.
In cases where the LA is aware that the above time-scales are unachievable due to factors such as high service demand, complexity of case, staff absence or technical problems the LA member will be notified and a revised time-scale will be advised.
If the one-off subscription or the additional LA costs referred to above are unpaid, the LA reserves the right to withhold all services until the sums are paid in full.
LA staff are committed to assisting members and consistently providing a high standard of service within realistic limits. In general, telephone advice will be restricted to 30 minutes in any one-week period. This will not include any calls where the LA has to pass on information from any third party, meet external deadlines or make arrangements for cases to be referred to the LA’s impartial Conflict Resolution Service. Under no circumstances will LA staff be expected to tolerate personal insults, threats or abusive language and such conduct will be reported and recorded and may result in termination of membership.
The LA recognises and is committed to the importance of supporting diversity, fairness, social justice and equality of opportunity by adopting fair policies and procedures. The LA is committed to providing fair and equal treatment in its dealing with members and all other third parties.
LA staff are not expected to tolerate offensive comments or any language verbally or in writing that would generally be regarded as discriminatory on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (including no belief), sex or sexual orientation as set out in the Equality Act 2010.
The LA reserves the right to terminate telephone calls or e-mail contact where in its reasonable discretion it considers it appropriate to do so. In this event records will be kept of any unacceptable content of the conversation and such conduct may result in termination of membership.
In the unlikely event that a member is dissatisfied with the LA service delivery a member can use the LA complaint procedure. The LA complaint procedure commits the LA to deal with complaints expeditiously and within specified time-scales. A copy of the LA complaint procedure is available on request.

The following terms and conditions are in respect of representatives only:

Where there are a number of LA members in one block or on one estate and the LA is acting on an issue of common interest or benefit to these members, the LA may require that one or more representatives be nominated and notified to the LA in writing. The LA must be informed of the names, addresses, e-mail and telephone details for these representatives, who must all be LA members.
The nominated representative(s) must communicate with the LA on behalf of all of the LA members in the relevant block or estate and they will be responsible for the collection and payment to the LA of any fees for additional LA services (see paragraph 10).
The nominated representative(s) and members they represent may be required to enter into a separate agreement setting out terms of communication with the LA and participation in any action on their joint behalf.
The nominated representative(s) must notify the LA immediately of any changes of property ownership or occupation and any change of freeholder, management company or any other significant change of circumstances.
If a nominated representative no longer wishes to continue this role they must notify the LA immediately in writing.
Where an LA member has an enquiry relating solely to their own flat they should contact the LA directly notwithstanding their participation in a common issue and they would not be required to notify any nominated representative or disclose to them any details of their personal case.

The LA reserves the right to revise these terms and conditions from time to time. Any revised terms will be notified by e-mail or via the LA website.