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Leaseholder Services and Housing Income: structure and responsibilities

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Leaseholder Services and Housing Income: structure and responsibilities

Housing Income and Leaseholder services set and collect Camden’s rent and service charge income for tenants and homeowners living in our properties. 

The team also manages the legal processes related to home ownership and carries out investigations to prevent and detect housing-related fraud.

What we do

Housing Income team

Our Housing Income team works with council tenants and leaseholders to ensure that rent, service charges, and other housing-related payments are made on time. We are also here to help residents experiencing financial difficulties.

Collection of rent and service charges

We manage rent accounts for council tenants and ensure charges are paid.

Find out more about paying rent for your council home.

Arrears management

If you fall behind on payments, we'll contact you to help you bring your account up to date and discuss your options. We'll work with you to set up affordable payment plans and support you through times of hardship.

Financial support and advice

We offer proactive help for tenants to maximise their income and work with other teams and partners like:

  • the Department of Welfare and Pensions (DWP)
  • Housing Benefit
  • Neighbourhood services
  • debt advice agencies where extra help is needed

Eviction prevention

Our goal is always to help you stay in your home. We work with you to prevent legal action wherever possible.

Home Ownership team

Our Home Ownership team is here to support Camden leaseholders—residents who own their property on a lease within a council-owned building.

We do not manage or maintain the blocks our homeowners live in. These services are provided by Neighbourhoods or Repairs.

Leasehold income

Our dedicated team will contact you to help you maintain your service charge payments and address any queries or disputes you have about your bills and administer payment options associated with Major Works costs 

Lease extensions, permissions and alterations

We process applications from leaseholders who wish to alter their property, extend their lease, buy the freehold (if eligible) or sub-let their property.

Find out more about making alterations or improvements.

Find out more about subletting your property.

General leaseholder support

We answer your queries about your lease agreement and advise on your rights and responsibilities as a leaseholder.

Find out more about support for leaseholders.

Right to Buy

We administer applications from our tenants who want to buy their home under the Right to Buy scheme. This means we assess:

  • eligibility for any discount entitlement
  • the sale price
  • the property definition and any related lease conditions, such as who is responsible for gardens or balconies and whether they'll be privately owned by the leaseholder or communal areas  

Find out more about Right to Buy.

Service charges

We calculate, manage, and issue your annual service charge and heating bills.

Find out more about service charges.

Major Works and Section 20 Notices

We inform and consult you about the introduction of new services and major works planned for your block, including issuing formal consultation notices (commonly referred to as Section 20.

Find out more about major works.

Housing Investigations team

The Housing Investigation team works to protect council housing by tackling tenancy fraud and ensuring that homes are used by those who need them most.

Housing is one of Camden’s most valuable community resources. When homes are misused, it reduces the availability of housing for families and individuals in genuine need. Our team works to safeguard this essential resource.

Tackling tenancy fraud

We investigate cases where council homes may be:

  • sublet illegally without the Council’s permission
  • occupied by someone other than the legal tenant
  • obtained through false information on housing applications
  • abandoned by tenants who no longer live in the property

Preventing housing misuse

We work to prevent:

  • key-selling (when someone sells their keys to another person)
  • non-occupation where the legal tenant has stopped living in the home without telling the council

Legal Action and Enforcement

Where necessary, we:

  • take legal action to recover properties being misused and obtain unlawful profit orders to reclaim rent received through subletting
  • work closely with Camden Legal Services, the police, and other agencies to ensure fair and lawful outcomes

Team structure

View the Leaseholder Services and Housing Income structure chart (PDF).

Text description of structure chart

Sean Scott is Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income. His direct reports are:

  • Income Operations Manager
  • Home Ownership Manager
  • Housing Investigations Manager

The Income Operations Manager manages:

  • 5 Income Team Leaders
    • 30 Income Officers
    • Senior Court Officer
    • Court Officer
  • Welfare Rights Team Manager
    • 6 Senior Welfare Rights Officers
  • Strategic Rent Accountant
    • 2 Principal Rent Accountancy Officers
      • 9 Rent Accountancy Officers
    • Principle Charge Accountant
      • 2 Service Charge Accountants
    • Data Analyst

The Home Ownership Manager manages:

  • Leasehold Income Team Manager
    • 3 Leasehold Income Team Leaders
    • 15 Leasehold Income Officers
    • 4 Disputes Officers
  • Leasehold Services Team Manager
    • 3 Leasehold Services Team Leaders
      • 13 Leasehold Services Officers
      • Leasehold Admin Officer
  • Major Works and Service Charge Team Manager
    • 2 Major Works Team Leaders
      • 9 Major Works Officers
    • 3 Service Charge Team Leaders
      • 9 Service Charge Officers
  • Heat Charges Manager/Heat Metering Project Manager
    • 3 Heat Charges Officers

The Housing Investigations Manager manages:

  • 4 Housing Investigations Officers