Flats Leasehold and Freehold

anon_private

Is it better to buy a flat that is leasehold, or one which is leasehold with a part share in the freehold.

What are the implications for someone buying a flat in the latter case.

For example, can the person be asked to take a share in the maintenance of the building and garden? - i.e., do some of the work.

joeistheone

the 'usual' thing is for the leaseholders who collectively share the freehold to instruct a company that manage maintenance etc. if it's only a handful of you, and you all agree to save money by doing things yourselves then i guess you can.

HappyMJ

anon_private wrote: »

Is it better to buy a flat that is leasehold, or one which is leasehold with a part share in the freehold.

What are the implications for someone buying a flat in the latter case.

For example, can the person be asked to take a share in the maintenance of the building and garden? - i.e., do some of the work.

Much cheaper to renew the lease if you also own a share of the freehold.

You won't usually be expected to do any work. You would all agree to outsource the work to a capable contractor and pay a share of the cost.

eddddy

If you read the lease, it will explain what the freeholders responsibilities are. Typically, these include maintaining the building, looking after the common parts etc.

It's up to you and your fellow freeholders to decide how this is done. Usually contractors are hired - but some freeholders might decide to do some of the work themselves to save money.

Or some might even try to avoid getting the work done at all - to save money.

And it could get messy if some of the joint freeholders want to hire contractors but others don't want to.

benjus

It really depends on the people who own the freehold and how they like to run things.

Some take a hands-off approach and employ a maintenance company to do all maintenance for a monthly service charge.

Some are more hands-on and find cleaners, gardeners, plumbers etc directly at the best price they can negotiate, both for ongoing maintenance and emergency repairs.

Some take it a step further and the owners themselves get involved. For example, last year the block where I live had almost all windows replaced, so scaffolding was erected around the entire building. Since various parts of the exterior needed repainting, we decided to take advantage of the scaffolding and get together to do it ourselves, saving ourselves some money. Of course, this is less likely if there are a lot of properties rented out.