Freehold & Leasehold

[Lucozade_Lil]

can anyone tell me what freehold and leasehold means when renting/buying a commercial/retail property. what are the benefits of each? Thanks

[boobesque]

well, with buying a house a leasehold means that you own the house but not the land that the house is built on so when the lease expires you may be told to take your house elsewhere. With a business i believe that a leasehold can be taken tro mean that you buy the business but the building itself is not owned by you.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong

[EBsonicBoom]

Freehold
Is the legal right to hold land/property as the absolute outright owner, free of payment or any other duty owed to another party.
As a freeholder, you can then offer to rent your land/property to parties with whom you"ll have a legal agreement. In other words, you may create leaseholders.

Leasehold
Holding a "leasehold" gives you the right of possession, but not ownership, of a property for an agreed period of time.
Ultimately, ownership remains with the freeholder. The duration of the right of ownership is usually a fixed term granted by the lease.
The lease will set out details of rents and obligations such as repairs etc. Leasehold is in direct contrast to Freehold where ownership is absolute.
A Lessee is a person to whom a lease is granted - to you and me that"s the tenant. While a lessor is the person who grants a lease - the landlord.

As for benefits a lease is less expensive at the outset, but is only for a given period of time. Your decision should be based on your circumstances and how much of a risk you are taking.