What's the difference between freehold and leasehold?

[Joolee1980]

and what's 'shared freehold' when you buy a flat?

Sorry if you see this in other forums too, I wasn't sure of the best one.

[Octavius]

Freehold refers to a piece of land ownership, including any buildings upon that land. Leasehold ownership is simply a long tenancy, the right to occupation and use of the property or land for a specified period, but not ownership of the land or buildings occupied.

Shared freehold is when a number of people (usually a block of flats etc) have ownership of the land and the building on it. This is more often referred to as �Commonhold�. In reality this means that the occupiers, or freehold title owners, have the joint responsibility of maintaining the building co-jointly rather than pay a service charge to the freeholder.

[enfable]

Octavius is right. however, I'll clarify. If you buy a leasehold property you are buying the building (bricks, mortor, etc) you are then responsible for this, you usually pay a maintenance charge for communial areas gardens, hallways, lifts, etc. If you buy freehold you purchase the property and land outright and are responsible for all of it.

If you buy leasehold the owner of the leasehold can increase the lease (fee) for the land or maintence this is usually for a term of 99 years.

If you buy leasehold you can always buy the leasehold off the owner making the property freehold.

If you are considering buying a leasehold property you should check the terms of the lease and at what date the current lease expires. If you are buying an a flat / apartment you would need to ensure that all residents comply and that they are bound to contributre to any expenditure.

In short (to late), buy houses freehold and flats / apartments leasehold, where possible.

[Joolee1980]

That's great , thanks for those answers. They're informative but I posted in other forums too and now have opinions both ways - some people saying shared freehold's good, others saying avoid if possible. I found a shared freehold flat I like so will have to weigh everything up and make a decision soon! Thanks again.