Rentcharge Deed

In the 1980s the Church Commissioners decided to sell much of its Maida Vale estate. The area was split up into sections: each section being run by a self-governing limited company, with a Chairman and directors who are all residents elected at the Annual General Meeting of the company. Each area was called an Amenity Company, ours being called Sutherland South Amenity Ltd.

To ensure the future preservation of the area, the Commissioners drew up complex legal arrangements based on a central document called the Rentcharge Deed. You can download a copy of the Deed below. It has rights over all the freeholders, but also has obligations to those freeholders.

Similarly, every freeholder has rights and duties not only to the holder of the Rentcharge but, through the deed, to every other freeholder. In order to carry out these duties, the Amenity Company has considerable legal powers.

​

In practice this means that alterations to the external appearance of buildings (including colour scheme) can only be made with prior written consent from the Amenity Company. If a freeholder or one of its tenants makes change without consent the Amenity Company can force it to be undone.  

 

The main rules which you are likely to come across are:-

​

• To obtain written permission from the Amenity Company for all external works before starting.

• To keep the house in good repair.

• To pay towards the costs of running the Company and the garden.

• To comply with the garden rules.