Leasehold and freehold - comparables?

boromanc89

Hi all
Houses in the area we are looking are a mix of freehold and leasehold. All properties are from 1970s and earlier, most are 1930s semis but on same street can be a mix of freehold and leasehold. We are only interested in freehold property (we currently own a leasehold flat).

When doing research on comparable properties, is there any rule of thumb for comparing highly similar properties which happen to be a mix of leasehold and freehold?? Is there an adjustment for difference in price? Or is it just guesswork/blind faith? Found a very similar leasehold property which sold for 40k less than the asking price of a freehold we intend to make an offer on, but not sure how to interpret this.

davidmcn

It depends on the terms of the lease. A 999 lease with a peppercorn rent is virtually freehold (assuming there are no onerous covenants in it), while a lease which is shorter and/or has a higher ground rent is going to be worth somewhat less.

Davesnave

For 30 years, we lived in two houses of different types, just 30m apart. One was freehold and the other had a very long lease and a tiny land rent, totally ignored by the charity that was the freeholder.

It made no practical difference to us what the type of ownership was, as the leasehold house had very few restrictions. One I do remember was not to allow any landowner to the north access over the shared pathways. I guess I broke that one when we moved, taking much of our furniture through a hole in the fence into our new house on the 'land to the north!'

So, as usual, the answer about the differences between leasehold and freehold is, "It depends..."

Our old house last sold in 2014. No one had bothered to buy the freehold.