Areas we cover
A lot of East Sussex flats are in old houses. A period house in Brighton, Hove, Hastings or St Leonards split into four or five flats may have a small residents’ company, a share of freehold, and a roof, facade and staircase that cost real money to look after. The directors want the demands and Section 20 notices done properly.
ROCA Wimbledon has worked for residents’ companies, right to manage companies and freeholders since 2014. Our office is in Wimbledon, and we are part of the Rentals and Sales family, established in Wimbledon in 1990. We are now taking on buildings in East Sussex, and our fixed-price services are available to any building there today.
In the 2021 Census, 3.5% of households in England lived in a flat in a converted or shared house. In Brighton and Hove the figure was 19.6%, in Hastings 13.7% and in Eastbourne 7.8%.
Many of these buildings sit in conservation areas. Brighton and Hove City Council said in 2019 that the city had 33. Hastings has its own list, including Burtons’ St Leonards, and Eastbourne’s council papers describe 12, including the Meads and the Seafront. If your building is listed or in a conservation area, speak to the council’s planning team before altering the outside, and allow for that in any Section 20 timetable.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service enforces fire safety law in the shared parts of blocks across East Sussex and Brighton and Hove. The responsible person is usually the freeholder, the residents’ or right to manage company, or the managing agent.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 made clear that the responsible person must manage fire risk in the structure and external walls, including windows and balconies, and the flat entrance doors that open onto shared areas.
Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, every building with two or more flats must give residents fire safety instructions and information about fire doors. Blocks over 11 metres need quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors. From 6 April 2026, blocks over 11 metres with a simultaneous evacuation strategy, and all blocks of 18 metres or seven storeys, come under the residential evacuation plan rules.
Brighton and Hove is a single council. The rest of East Sussex has the county council plus Eastbourne, Hastings, Lewes, Rother and Wealden. New councils are expected from 2028, so check the current position.
Licensing can touch converted blocks. Brighton and Hove’s additional HMO licensing scheme runs from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029, and it does not apply to converted blocks of flats under section 257 of the Housing Act 2004.
Service charge disputes and Section 20 dispensation applications for East Sussex buildings go to the Southern region of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in Havant. We prepare and file applications such as Section 20 dispensation. Court claims stay with a solicitor.
All prices include VAT and are on our fees page.
The fixed-price services can be ordered for any building in England, whether or not we manage it.
Annual management has a minimum of £2,400 a year, which is £600 a flat for four flats. A small company can run the building itself and buy in the parts that carry legal risk, such as Section 20 notices, the service charge demand pack (£120 for up to 10 flats) or the fire risk assessment.
If the flats share a hallway, stairs or landing, the Fire Safety Order applies to those shared parts whatever the size of the building, so someone has to be the responsible person and carry out a fire risk assessment.
It has to be received, checked and recorded, and in a share of freehold the new owner usually needs a share certificate. Both notices plus a share or membership certificate cost £264.
Call 020 8944 7408 or email tara@rocawimbledon.com, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. ROCA Wimbledon is a member of the Property Redress Scheme, membership number PRS031833.
Call 020 8944 7408 or email tara@rocawimbledon.com, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Contact usWe would like to use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and see which pages are useful, so we can improve the site. They are only set if you accept. You can change your mind at any time from "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page. Read more