If you own the freehold of your home, it means that you own the structure and the land it sits on. If your residential or commercial property is leasehold, you own the residential or commercial property but not the structure or land and should pay ground rent to the freeholder.
homesbrewery.com
Freehold vs leasehold: the essential distinctions

Do you understand what is meant by a freehold or leasehold residential or commercial property? Experienced estate agent, Ian Harris helps describe the key differences.

Sign up for our video channel

Make certain you keep up to date with our video material as it's published. By subscribing you will be alerted as quickly as brand-new videos are released.

What does leasehold suggest?

You are buying a lease from the freeholder for the right to live in the residential or commercial property for a set number of years. You will not technically own the residential or commercial property outright, the freeholder (or property manager) will continue to own the residential or commercial property and the ground it sits on. Leasehold is commonplace when buying a flat or apartment as it sits within a bigger structure.

The number of leasehold homes has nevertheless grown in current years, especially with brand-new builds that are offered directly through the designer.

Recent modifications to the law

The Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024 is now law, but private parts of the Act are being executed one at a time so not everything has been done yet. You can see the development of the changes here. Eventually there will be a ban on the sale of new leasehold flats, making Commonhold the new default tenure rather, where each unit-holder owns the freehold of their home.

Find out more about what's altering for leasehold

Main point to understand that have actually been carried out up until now are:

- If you own a flat, you can now extend your lease without waiting two years initially (since January 2025).

• This means that more leaseholders in mixed-use buildings can obtain the right to manage