Schedule 8: Remediation costs under qualifying leases Paragraph 15: Information from tenants Background
This is a new provision.
	Paragraph 13 of Schedule 8 makes provision for the leaseholder to provide a qualifying lease certificate to their landlord, or any superior landlord, demonstrating that they are the owner of a qualifying lease. As discussed in the explanatory note to paragraph 12, superior landlords include any landlord with a superior lease over all or part of the building; this includes landlords such as the head lessee or freeholder.
	Regulations made under paragraph 13 will set out the information that is to be contained in the certificate, and the certificate’s form and execution.
	Regulations made under paragraph 15 will set out the information and documents that the qualifying leaseholder needs to provide to the landlord. Suitable evidence will need to be provided alongside the qualifying lease certificate supporting the self-certification of the lease as qualifying.
	There are other important factors relating to the qualifying lease that will need to be ascertained in determining the qualifying leaseholder’s potential liability (if any). Paragraphs 4 to 6 of Schedule 8 set out that the maximum qualifying leaseholder liability varies according to the value of the qualifying lease at the qualifying time. For example, a qualifying leaseholder outside Greater London is protected from all costs relating to relevant defects if the lease is worth less than £175,000. Paragraph 6(7) sets out that the value of the qualifying lease is determined according to regulations and is based on the most recent resale price of the property and the year in which that sale took place. Both the leaseholder and the landlord will need to know the value of the qualifying lease so that the landlord is aware of what costs they can pass on to the leaseholder, should they be entitled to do so (i.e., where no landlord for the building was responsible for the defects and where the landlord does not meet the contribution condition). The leaseholder will therefore need to provide information about the property’s most recent sale price and date to the landlord.
	In addition, paragraph 6(5) sets out that, for shared ownership leases, the permitted maximum is calculated in proportion to the leaseholder’s equity stake in the property. This information will also need to be provided to the landlord so that the landlord can determine what costs they can pass on to the shared ownership leaseholder.