Barbican Living

The Barbican lease

The Barbican estate was originally conceived and built by the City of London as flats for City workers to rent. So the original occupiers were stockbrokers, bankers, accountants etc. But everything changed when Margaret Thatcher gave Council tenants the 'right to buy' their flats. In the Barbican, the tenants were not 'Council tenants' as we would normally understand the term - but the City was a local authority and the tenants suddenly discovered they were very pleased to be Council tenants because they could buy their flats at a hefty discount.

Many tenants exercised their Housing Act 'right to buy' and they were granted long leases. There was no point forcing people to go through the Housing Act procedures if terms could be agreed, so quite often the City agreed sales voluntarily. Also as flats became vacant, the City stopped re-letting them and instead sold them as vacant flats in the open market for the full price. There are very few tenanted flats left now.

Barbican leases are in a standard form. But there are variations from building to building and from flat to flat. Your lease will give you details of the covenants you have to observe. You will need to check it if you plan to carry out any building works - either of maintenance or alterations - to your flat.

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