Leasehold house - would you buy?

tizerbelle

wymondham wrote: »

Can't see why someone would buy a leasehold house when there are plenty of freehold ones around?

It depends where you live as explained above some areas of the country have a lot of leasehold properties - so much so that they are the norm and not all leaseholds are "bad".

Many of the victorian houses in my area are leasehold and currently will have leases of 800 plus years (mines 881 years left) and the ground rent which is the only thing the freeholder can charge is £1.14 per year in my case and others are very similar levels. There are no service charges and there aren't even any restrictive covenants that affect extending the house or how it is used.

Modern leaseholds especially in new estates tend to be much more expensive with shorter leases, service/maintenance charges that cover the whole estate so those in houses end up paying towards maintenance of the buildings containing flats and then there are guaranteed and hefty increases in the ground rent/service charges every X number of years.

Leaseholds like mine are virtually as good as a freehold and have no impact on selling prices/popularity of the property or area. Other leaseholds appear to be a money pit at the leaseholders expense.