A Gated Estate of Houses, Flats and a Converted Listed Workhouse
King Georges Square, Richmond TW10. Freehold houses paying estate charges alongside leasehold flats, all under one resident freehold company — two different legal regimes on the same estate.
At a glance
- Service
- Retained legal advice to a resident freehold company
- Location
- King Georges Square, Richmond upon Thames, TW10
- Property
- A large private gated development combining freehold houses, which pay estate charges, with purpose-built leasehold flats and a converted listed former workhouse
- Work
- Licences to assign, deeds of covenant and the transactional documentation required as properties across the estate change hands
Two legal regimes on one estate
Most buildings we advise are one thing or the other. This estate is both, and that is what makes it interesting.
The flats are leasehold. Their occupiers hold long leases, pay a service charge, and have the statutory rights that go with leasehold tenure — to extend, to enfranchise collectively, to challenge a service charge at the Tribunal.
The houses are freehold. Their owners own their homes outright and have none of those rights, because none of that legislation applies to them. What they have instead is a set of positive covenants requiring them to contribute to the upkeep of the estate — the roads, the gates, the grounds, the lighting.
The same company is responsible to both, and the legal footing on which it deals with each is entirely different.
Estate charges on freehold houses
This is the less familiar half, and it is the part that generates the most misunderstanding.
A freehold homeowner paying an estate charge is not paying a service charge. The statutory protections that apply to leasehold service charges — reasonableness, consultation on major works, the Tribunal’s jurisdiction — developed for leasehold, and freehold owners on managed estates have historically had considerably less. Reform in this area has been slow and remains incomplete.
Enforcement runs differently too. Positive covenants do not automatically bind successive freehold owners in the way leasehold covenants bind assignees, which is why estates like this use a chain of indemnity covenants and a restriction on each title: the seller cannot register the transfer unless the buyer enters into a direct covenant with the estate company.
That machinery only works if it is operated on every single sale. Miss one, and the chain is broken for that plot — permanently, and usually without anyone noticing until the next time the charge is disputed.
The practical point. On a managed freehold estate, the deed of covenant on each sale is not paperwork. It is the only thing keeping the next owner liable, and a single omission cannot be repaired later.
A listed conversion in the middle of it
Part of the estate is a converted former workhouse, and it is listed. That adds a further layer for the flats within it.
Consent under the lease and listed building consent are separate requirements from separate sources. A leaseholder can hold a licence to alter and still be committing a criminal offence by carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building. The estate company, in granting consents, has to be careful not to permit something the leaseholder cannot lawfully do.
It also affects the practical management of the building — repairs, materials and external works are constrained in ways that a 1990s block would not be, and the company’s obligations under the leases have to be read against that.
When this applies to you
Mixed-tenure estates
If your company is responsible for both houses and flats, the two cannot be run on the same assumptions. Different obligations, different enforcement routes, different statutory protections, and different consequences for getting it wrong.
The single point to check first is whether the covenant machinery on the freehold plots has been operated consistently on every transfer. That is where mixed-tenure estates most often find a gap.
Common questions
Is an estate charge the same as a service charge?
No. Service charges are payable under leases and carry statutory protections including reasonableness, consultation and access to the Tribunal. Estate charges payable by freehold homeowners arise under covenants and have historically attracted considerably less protection.
How is an estate charge enforced against a freehold house?
Through a chain of indemnity covenants supported by a restriction on the title, requiring each incoming owner to covenant directly with the estate company. It has to be operated on every sale, without exception.
Do leaseholders in a listed building need extra consents?
Yes. Listed building consent comes from the local planning authority and is separate from the landlord’s consent under the lease. Both are required, and holding one gives no protection in respect of the other.
Can a company be responsible for both houses and flats?
Yes, and many estate companies are. What matters is recognising that the two groups are governed by different legal regimes rather than treating the estate as a single homogeneous thing.
Client names are not used in our case studies. Properties are identified by road, block and postcode only. Every matter turns on its own facts, and outcomes described here are not a prediction of what will happen in yours.