Houses have usually been Freehold – that is having outright ownership of a property and the land it stands upon. However, some New-Build houses have had an increasing trend to join flats and apartments in having Leasehold tenure; such property has a ‘lease’ to own the right to live there for a specified number of years (usually 99 years and upwards) with the Freehold owned by someone else.
As buying a ‘Leasehold’ property means ‘buying’ the right to occupy it for a specific length of time, the consequence is that as a lease gets shorter the property reduces in value and there have been numerous cases of ground rent charges increasing when unexpired leases fall below 70 years. Additionally, mortgage lenders often require a minimum remaining length of Lease upon their loan being redeemed.
Not seeking out advice and being armed with knowledge for such purchases could be a case of false economies: Cheap can be expensive.
Article credit: Copyright SUF © 2019.
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