The Residential Leaseholders Handbook explains in plain language everything leaseholders and their advisers need to know in relation to long residential leases. Among the common problems it tackles are absent landlords; spiralling service charges; the right to be consulted on significant or long term service charge items; how to challenge excessive charges; how to gain control from difficult or exploitive landlords and how to set up a management company.

The book begins with the legal framework of a typical ground lease and its main provisions including: responsibility for repairs,...