Leasehold
Leasehold means you’re buying a property on someone else’s land, usually called the landlord or the freeholder. Buying a leasehold property means you:
- Own the property for the length of the lease
- Have to pay to extend your lease
- Pay ground rent (rent for the land that the building stands on) and maintenance fees to the landlord (sometimes called the freeholder)
- May be restricted on what you can do with the property, eg no sub-letting
Renewing your leasehold
After you’ve lived in a leasehold property for two years, you’re able to extend your lease or buy the freehold, though both are expensive. You can extend a lease by:
- 90 years for flats
- 50 years for houses
Leases usually last around 90 to 120 years. If you’re looking at a property with a shorter lease (fewer than 90 years), consider asking for the lease to be extended as part of the purchase.
If you’re trying to renew your lease and your landlord is being unreasonable, contact the Leasehold Enquiry Service.
Property management
You and the landlord need to look after a leasehold property, but you're each responsible for different things. You’re expected to:
- Look after everything in your own property
- Let your landlord take care of building and communal areas, like halls and stairwells
- This also includes heating and electricity for these communal areas
To cover this, all the properties in your building share a service charge. It can be as little as £20 a month and as much as £200 or more. It all depends on the size and the quality of the building.
If the service charge seems especially high, ask your landlord for a cost breakdown so you can see exactly what your service charge is being spent on.
If you own a leasehold on an apartment, it's likely that you will be invited to be involved in the general decisions taken about the building. It is up to you how involved you can be - from not at all to trying to get appointed to the board of directors. Even if you only attend the board's annual general meetings (AGMs), it can be very useful to understand where your service charges are being spent
Leasehold disputes
If you’re not happy with the way a leasehold property is being maintained, you can either:
- Go to a tribunal to have the manager replaced or
- Apply (with the other leaseholders in your building) for the ‘right to manage’, which will mean jointly taking on responsibility for the building’s maintenance.
If you have any other questions about leasehold properties, visit gov.uk for more information.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.