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Leases for houses and flats

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Maybe it's more common up North, but why are some houses leasehold instead of freehold?

 

I've also come across a couple of flats which have a lease of 999 years!!!

Why not just make them freehold?

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I'm not sure if there is an actual reason some houses are leasehold, maybe there's a bunch of reasons???

 

You can understand flats being leasehold obviously.

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There are a lot of leasehold houses where big landowners wanted to rent the land out for a long period (usually 99 years) and then get it back afterwards (it didn't work because the laws were changed so leaseholders can usually extend the lease or buy it out without needing the freeholder's agreement)

 

You can't have freehold flats because that would leave multiple people with the freehold to the same area of land, and that's not how freehold works. Only one person holds one piece of land (except tenants in common which still wouldn't work for flats)

 

Houses with 999 year leases do seem silly but there are occasions when they are used so the freeholder keeps some of the control over what the leaseholder can and can't do with their house, for example specifying that the leaseholder needs permission to extend the house. It would be useful if you were selling a new home build in what was your garden, for example.

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Yes, but as you've said you can just buy the freehold revision for the house and sack them off.

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You can't have freehold flats because that would leave multiple people with the freehold to the same area of land, and that's not how freehold works. Only one person holds one piece of land (except tenants in common which still wouldn't work for flats)

 

.

 

But there are SOME freehold flats.

Also, some freeholders do offer the freehold to their tenants, in small purpose built blocks of flats.

Your point about, only one person can hold one piece of land, well could the land not just be distributed by X number of flats, meaning the tenants own a portion of the land?

Would that not add more value to the flat, plus the fact that they wouldn't need to renew the least every few years, which is cumbersome, especially when it come to selling, and also quite costly.

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hi there if you contact the leasehold advisory service they will send you a very handy book on how to buy your lease /freehold etc which all the people who own freeholds etc hate because it packed with the information you need to start your purchase

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But there are SOME freehold flats.

I've seen "coach houses" (effectively a flat above garages), that are freehold, but those are special cases as only one dwelling is involved.

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Yes, sorry. I was thinking about the past before the laws were changed so the leaseholder have the right to buy the freehold, and talking about it in the present tense. Most misleading.

 

Yes, but as you've said you can just buy the freehold revision for the house and sack them off.

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Maybe it's more common up North, but why are some houses leasehold instead of freehold?

Brief answer: Industrial Revolution led to ordinary people buying houses; Building Societies started at about the same time; no planning laws back then; only way to enforce obligations is by imposing covenants; covenants on freeholds don't work well; so leases granted.

 

I've also come across a couple of flats which have a lease of 999 years! Why not just make them freehold?

Because covenants- esp positive obligations (e.g. to pay service charge, to do works, etc.)- on freeholds don't work well; so leases granted.

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Brief answer: Industrial Revolution led to ordinary people buying houses; Building Societies started at about the same time; no planning laws back then; only way to enforce obligations is by imposing covenants; covenants on freeholds don't work well; so leases granted.

 

Sounds fascinating - do you know what kind of obligations the freeholders, bask in the day, were particularly interested in enforcing? I've seen all kind of obligations in lease contracts, from not hanging your laundry in the window to not running a tannery on the property, but without being a real historian it's hard to get a real picture of how the deal was originally envisaged.

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Probably varies from location to location, some places didn't want them opening up a mine on the land, some places didn't want them starting up a forge or workshop there either.

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Sounds fascinating - do you know what kind of obligations the freeholders, bask in the day, were particularly interested in enforcing? I've seen all kind of obligations in lease contracts, from not hanging your laundry in the window to not running a tannery on the property, but without being a real historian it's hard to get a real picture of how the deal was originally envisaged.

We can maybe guess what social problems existed, by looking at what the covenants prohibited: tallow chandling, tripe boiling, brewing spirits, industrial activities, auctions, gaming, etc. etc.

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