Leaseholders to benefit from new Barnet Homes payment plan

Leaseholders in Barnet will now be given up to 10 years to pay for upgrade work at their properties and blocks thanks to a newly agreed Barnet Homes scheme.

The new payment plan will significantly ease financial pressures for leaseholders faced with large bills as a result of Barnet Homes’ Decent Homes programme, which will have raised all council-owned properties in the borough up to a good quality standard by 2010-11.

Previously Barnet leaseholders were given up to 24 months interest free to pay for bills in excess of £3,000. The new agreement sees that period extended up to 10 years, on a sliding scale based on the size of bills for Decent Homes (or major works) bills.

The new payment plan, agreed by Barnet Council’s Cabinet Resources Committee last night (2 November), comes shortly after the introduction of a trial discount scheme for leaseholders.

Until the end of January 2010 leaseholders who pay major works charges within 28 days of receiving the bill will be given a 2.5 per cent discount. Barnet Council and Barnet Homes will consider extending the scheme if it proves successful.

Barnet Homes’ Deputy Chief Executive, Derek Rust, said: “Our Decent Homes programme is creating thousands of better homes for both council tenants and leaseholders. Leaseholders should benefit in the long term from an increased market value of their properties, reduced ongoing maintenance costs, and lower heating bills.

“We monitor our contractors very closely to ensure they provide the best possible value for money, but any work on this sort of scale doesn’t come cheap. We’re very aware that we’re asking leaseholders to pay large sums of money in difficult economic times, and we’ve been working with Barnet Council over many months to look at ways of alleviating these financial pressures.

“I’m very pleased that the council has now agreed to extend repayment periods for leaseholders. It will make a big difference for many of our residents. But we’ll continue to look at other ways we can help leaseholders through the recession.”

The new sliding scale for major works is as follows:

From £3,000 to £5,000 – two years
From £5,000 to £7,500 – three years
From £7,500 to £15,000 – five years
For £15,000 and above – 10 years

In all cases, the first two years will be interest free and subsequent years at a local interest rate set by Barnet Council.