Running a freehold estate.
In short
A freehold estate's charge comes from each home's transfer or deed, not from a lease, so the service charge rules for leaseholders do not apply to it. Part 5 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will give owners new rights, but it was not in force when this was checked. A company can run the estate itself, and a home held on a lease on the same estate keeps every leaseholder's right.
Where does the estate charge come from?
From each home's transfer or deed. It usually says what the company may do, what it may charge for, and each home's share. Read it before anything else: it decides what can be collected. Some deeds use an estate rentcharge, a charge the Rentcharges Act 1977 allows to continue where it pays for services or maintenance.
Do the service charge rules apply?
Not to a freehold home. The service charge rules in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 are about amounts payable by a tenant of a dwelling, so a freeholder's demand does not need the prescribed summary of tenants' rights, and Section 20 consultation and the 18 month rule do not reach it. A flat held on a lease on the same estate is different: its demands must follow all of those rules.
What is changing?
Part 5 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 sets out new rights for owners paying estate management charges, including reasonableness and information about what they pay for. When this guide was checked those provisions had not been brought into force and depended on further regulations. Run the estate now as if owners will soon have those rights: clear budgets, clear demands, and records of what was spent.
What does an estate have to keep up?
It depends on what the company owns or looks after. Commonly public liability insurance, tree surveys, play area inspections, drainage and SuDS, street lighting, gates and pumping stations, plus any building with shared parts. A shared building may need a fire risk assessment. The company's own duties apply too: confirmation statements, accounts and directors' duties under the Companies Act 2006.
Where Servanda comes in
Servanda runs freehold estates and mixed estates the same way as blocks: its own checks, an estate charge demand for a freehold home, everything a lease requires for a home on a lease, the bank statement matched, and qualified support included.
Manage your own block or estateThe law
- Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, Part 5 (estate management)
- Rentcharges Act 1977, section 2
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 18
- Companies Act 2006, directors' general duties (sections 171 to 177)
The legislation is the authority; this page is a plain summary for England, checked on 2026-10-29. Wales and Scotland have their own rules. Take advice on any particular building.