Buy leasehold or buy freehold

honeychurch

After looking for some time to find the right property, we have put in an offer on a grade 2 listed maisonnette which is above a card shop. However, we have since seen and fallen in love with a freehold cottage. I'm trying to go through the pros and cons of both properties, but i'm a little confused as to how much of a "con" the leasehold actually is....
There is 119 years left on the list. Should we go for the freehold property instead or not let this aspect influence our decision? The property fits the criteria of the mortgage lender (leasehold/above shop which i know some can be fusy about), and apart from paying slightly more for solicitors I am not sure how else this can affect things.

Your views and opinions would be very much appreciated.

Sput2001

The main things to keep an eye out for on a leasehold property are:

1 - The length of lease remaining. 119 years is pretty good. If it was down to, say, 80-ish years then you'd need to look at renegotiating & extending it, which your solicitor could probably do, at a cost.

2 - Responsibility (principally financial) for cleaning and maintenance of the communal parts of the building, e.g. any shared corridors, staircases, landings etc. There'll probably also be "sinking fund" which is a fund you'll pay into to cover bigger building & structural work to, for example, the walls or roof, which may need doing. Make sure you know what provisions are in place and what charges you'll be liable for.

3 - You'll probably be responsible for paying ground rent too, make sure you know what the charge for this is.

As a general rule, people usually prefer freehold to leasehold, but there are probably exceptions. There'll probably be other things to consider too, which I've not thought of.

happenstance

Erm you do know the difference right? Freehold is usually better; no 'we have decided to paint the outside give us 6k within two weeks' scenario.

honeychurch

I do know what the difference is and have really tried to read up on it but (at the risk of sounding really stupid) I don't still don't really comprehend what this means to us. Its obviously a huge step and i want to be as well informed about this as possible.
Freehold does feels instinctively better - I just wondered if out of two places we liked this should be the deciding factor when there are (seemingly) less fundamental differences between the two places which we can work out based our preferences.
Thanks for the advice.

jackieblue

If I had the choice of two places I liked equally - I would definitely buy the freehold property without a doubt. You'd own it and pretty much choose what you want to do with it (within reason and regulations). With Leasehold you may need permission for absolutely everything because you don't own it outright. Somebody else has a say to protect his/her own investment and you would also pay them for the privilege. Most houseowners in the UK benefit from the freehold and this is the aspiration for most people I believe. Even if they weren't equally ideal, I'd be swayed by a freehold opportunity.

Others may not feel the same - this could just be me.

All the best.

honeychurch

Thanks jackieblue. I do feel the same, although having weighed everything up, I think the leasehold maisonette is ahead of the freehold place (there is so much more space, which I guess is why we are having such a hard time deciding), although the offer we would consider making on the freehold place would be 8 grand less.

I guess we are just going to have to make our own minds up one way or another!