What does 'absolute ownership' mean?

millycww

Looking at a flat to buy. The tenure is 'absolute ownership'. Is this the same as freehold? Not sure if it's a good or bad thing!

propertyman

Unless it's a Roman Villa it's an estate agent making things up.:o
I suspect they mean freehold but read something on the internet and it as too much for them to understand.

There are only three types of ownership

Freehold - fee simple absolute in possession
Leasehold - term of years absolute
Commonhold - rare as rocking horse manure so dont worry

In law the only one arguably with absolute ownership is the Crown as all land reverts to it.



I suspect you will find that the flat is a lease, and that the owner is also selling either his interest in the sole or joint ownership of the building , or a share in or membership of a company that owns the freehold.

In some cases the building might be owned as a freehold and he simply occupies the flat, and is landlord to the other flats which are sold off on long leases.

Check the address at HMLR and it will tell you the title.

G_M

Propertyman - I suspect the OP is in Scotland......

propertyman

:embarasseGood point. My points were on E & W.

If they are, then it's still a concept rather than a title- if I recall there are a number of absolute interests. It would be helpful if agents simply did 10 minutes learning it would eliminate so many problems.

BobQ

propertyman wrote: »

:embarasseGood point. My points were on E & W.

If they are, then it's still a concept rather than a title- if I recall there are a number of absolute interests. It would be helpful if agents simply did 10 minutes learning it would eliminate so many problems.

Yes strictly the Crown owns all land by Right of Conquest but not in Cornwall where it is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall..... etc

But for your purposes it means owned outright (ie freehold) rather than leased as with most flats.

Be careful however, a freehold flat is unususal. It probably means you own a share of the freehold jointly with other owners of flats in the same building. Some lenders are reluctant to lend against freehold flats due to the difficulties of enforcing joint problems with the building.

G_M

BobQ wrote: »

But for your purposes it means owned outright (ie freehold) rather than leased as with most flats.

Be careful however, a freehold flat is unususal. It probably means you own a share of the freehold jointly with other owners of flats in the same building. Some lenders are reluctant to lend against freehold flats due to the difficulties of enforcing joint problems with the building.

Again - you are assuming Eng/Wales. In Scotland things are different.

And to clarify, in Eng/Wales:

It probably means you own a share of the freehold jointly

in addition to owning the lease.

googler

In Scottish Law;

Absolute interests in land

This means that a person has unfettered ownership of property, the equivalent of a freehold in English land law. In Scotland historically until the abolition of the feudal system there were two distinct legal estates, superiority and feu. The estate of superior was unfettered, and therefore absolute. Under a feudal estate the actual owner (or "feuar") must not have breached the feuing conditions, but he was otherwise entitled to complete possession of his property for all time, and therefore his ownership is also regarded as absolute, subject to any statutory restrictions, eg planning.

From
http://www.scottishlaw.org.uk/lawscotland/abscotslawland.html