Selling or subletting

Selling your home

If you bought your home as one of our tenants under the Right to Buy scheme, and you sell it within five years, you must repay some or all of the discount we gave you.

If you sell your flat within ten years of the start of the lease, you must offer Gateshead Council first refusal. More information about selling your home..

Telling us about a change in ownership

After you sell your home, the new leaseholder or their solicitor must notify us within 21 days. We need this to register the lease assignment and record the mortgage provider's details. There will be a charge for registering a Notice of Transfer.

Getting a presale enquiry pack

As a leaseholder, you can sell your property at any time. You will need to make all the arrangements yourself with estate agents and solicitors. (Please remember we do not allow estate agent boards to be fixed to our buildings.)

Your solicitor must notify us when you have accepted an offer on your property. They should ask us for your account and property information to help with the sale.

We call this a 'presale enquiry pack', and we will only provide it to your solicitor. We charge an admin fee for this service because we have to compile information on accounts, charges, schedules, and insurance.

If there is an estimated charge for services or for major works in progress, you must agree with the buyer on how to pay any future bills while you wait for the final account. The buyer's solicitor may want you to settle these bills in full or agree to hold back an amount from the sale price for them. This amount is called a 'retention'. Your solicitor holds it until the final account is known.

To request a presale pack and find out our fee, your solicitor should contact us.

Before you sublet your property

If you have a mortgage, you will need to get your bank or building society's permission to sublet your property, as it may be a condition of the mortgage that you live in it.

If you sublet your property, you may not be covered for accidental damage under the building insurance policy. You must tell us that you are subletting your property so we can check that any insurance claim you make is covered.

Subletting your home

As a Gateshead Council leaseholder, your lease allows you to sublet your property. However, all sublets must be registered with us once they are let. Not registering a sublet with us is a breach of your lease. It is enforceable.

When registering a sublet, you must submit a copy of the tenancy agreement for each of your tenancies. You must also provide a valid gas safety certificate and an electrical certificate for the property you are subletting.

You are always responsible for complying with the lease and for your tenants' conduct while the property is sublet.

You will also need to tell us your new contact details, so we can get in touch with you urgently if we need to, and so we can be sure we are sending your invoices to the correct address.

When your sublet tenancy comes to an end you must complete the Subletting update form (Word doc, 180 KB) and email it to us.

Each new sublet registration has a fee per tenancy. This can be paid by bank transfer or cheque made payable to Gateshead Council. Alternatively, we can call you back to take a card payment over the phone.

If you sublet your property, you are responsible for testing the electrics in the flat every five years. A copy of the electrical report can be sent to us to make sure your property is safe.

Landlord's gas safety obligations

If you sublet your home, you must follow the Gas Safety (Installations and Use) Regulations 1998. (opens new window) This makes you responsible for the landlords' duties under it.

This means that you are legally responsible for making sure your gas appliances, pipework and flues are safe and well maintained.

You must arrange for an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.

You must give your tenant a copy of the annual gas safety check (called a CP12) before they move in.

Not meeting gas safety rules can lead to criminal prosecution. This may result in a fine or imprisonment.

For more information on gas safety obligations see the Health and Safety Executive (opens new window) and Gas Safe Register (opens new window) websites.

Moving out temporarily

If you plan to move out temporarily and the flat will be empty, you must give us your contact details or leave your address with a neighbour, caretaker, or the police in case of an emergency.

You must continue to pay service charges while you are not living in the property.

Leaving the home empty for 30 days may affect your insurance.