A Demolition Notice is used to tell residents that the council is planning to demolish their home in the future. It also explains why this is necessary - in this case to build the more and better homes the borough needs and to confirm legally the November Cabinet decision to partially regenerate the estate. Demolition Notices are issued in two stages:

• Initial Demolition Notices are issued to residents when the local authority is planning to demolish their property within the next seven years but has not yet established when this will happen. It does not mean that demolition work is about to start.
• Final Demolition Notices are issued to residents when the local authority has set a date for the demolition to happen. This notice can only be issued after planning permission has been granted. No demolition can happen until this Notice is issued.

The new HfL tenancy agreement is based upon, and is very similar, to the tenancy agreement currently used for Lambeth Council tenants. It also includes a contractual Right to Buy.

The tenancy agreement covers your rights and responsibilities on areas including:-

• Paying rent and other charges

Rent will be set in exactly the same way as council rents. You will be responsible for paying water bills directly to Thames Water. Repairs what you are responsible for, and what HfL is responsible for.

• Decoration

Generally, internal decoration is a tenant's responsibility, although we will help elderly or other vulnerable tenants.

• Cleaning

You must keep the inside of your home tidy. HfL will look after the communal areas.

• Gardens / outside space

You must look after any garden, yard and balcony, and keep them free of rubbish. These areas form part of the property. Insurance HfL will insure the structure of the building against certain risks, together with our fixtures and fittings, but you should arrange your own contents insurance.

• Making alterations

You are not allowed to alter the outside of your home, such as putting up a satellite dish or fixing security grills.

• Your Right to Buy your home

We're adding a contractual Right to Buy which will provide an equivalent right to the one you currently have.

• HfL's right to enter your property

You must let officers and contractors in to carry out repairs.

• Use of your home

You must live in your property as your only or principal home; if not we’ll take legal action to recover possession. You can only run a business from your home with our permission.

• Succession (passing your tenancy on when you die)

The tenancy allows for succession to partners (married or unmarried) and to children who have lived with you for 12 months prior to your death.

• Pets

You need written permission to have a dog. You must microchip your dog.

• Not causing a nuisance

The tenancy lists various things you shouldn't do which could cause a nuisance to your neighbours.

• Ending your tenancy

If you want to end your tenancy you must give us four weeks written notice. If HfL needs to bring your tenancy to an end, such as if you don’t pay the rent, it will need to apply to a court for possession.

New homes will be more environmentally efficient than existing homes and therefore more cost effective to run with more efficient heating and hot water systems, improved insulation, all of which will contribute to lower costs of running the home. Being newly built homes, there will be much lower levels of capital expenditure required on the properties for many years.

There is, however, a possibility that the Council Tax will be higher than for existing homes on the estates. The council cannot guarantee that monthly outgoings will be lower, but we fully expect them to be. For tenants, rents will still be set in exactly the same way as council rents. As you will be living in a newer property with a higher value, your rent could increase as council level rents are in part calculated using the value of the property itself.

Any increase in rents will be phased in over 5 years and you would still be able to apply for Housing Benefit to cover the rent. There is more information in the council’s Key Guarantees.

To read the report which provides the basis of these values, please click here.

As part of the cabinet decision to carry out a regeneration scheme for your estate, the council made a commitment to enable communities to stay together. To honour this commitment, we are putting in place various options to enable resident homeowners to remain on the estate. These options are part of the Key Guarantees.

However, the council understands that personal circumstances may lead to some homeowners wanting to sell their property to the council before the redevelopment of the estate. In response to requests from homeowners, a number of properties in the regeneration schemes have been bought by the council so far.

Other homeowners have asked us how much their own property may be worth. The table below shows the purchase price agreed with the owners for your information, together with the size and also the loss payment. It does not include information about the disturbance payments made to homeowners and other fees and charges paid for by the council. Please note that you should consider these figures as an indication only of the value of your own property; the value of properties will depend on their characteristics eg size, location, condition and can change over time.

The council will ask its agents to carry out a market valuation of the property. In parallel to this, if you wish, you can obtain your own valuation from another RICS qualified surveyor of your choice. Once the council and you as the homeowner have reached agreement on the value of the property, then the transaction proceeds.

It is expected that the CPO process could take approximately 18 months; however at this stage it is very difficult to say accurately how long it will take.

Once masterplanning on any estate gets underway, the council will involve residents in the drafting of a Local Lettings Plan. This will set out a process and prioritisation system, which will set out how tenants and homeowners can apply for new-built homes. The council’s allocations scheme will still apply.

If a secure tenant decides to move away from your current estate, but wishes to retain an option to return, then they would need to notify the Housing Regeneration Team. Secure tenants remaining on an estate would have priority for new choice of homes. When an estate has been mostly built (or, where relevant, a phase has been completed) and all the secure tenants remaining on the estate have been re-housed, then the Housing Regeneration Team would contact those who have retained an option to return to ask if they now wished to exercise that option and return to the estate. Anyone responding to that offer would be provided information on what homes are available and how they can bid for those new homes. Only after all those who wish to take up the option to return have moved back to the estate would new homes be made available to those on the general waiting list.

There will be a “right to return” in those circumstances where the council/Homes for Lambeth has asked a tenant or homeowner to move temporarily off their estate to cater for the phasing of development. In these circumstances, there will be a “right to return”, where the council/Homes for Lambeth will commit that suitably sized accommodation will be available on the new estate and that those with a “right to return” will be considered with same priority for a new home as those that continue living on the estate. It is anticipated that there will only be very limited circumstances where the council/Homes for Lambeth asks someone to move temporarily off the estate.