Buying the freehold of a house - worth bothering?

SarahB16

Tabieth said:

All I know is my experience. I’ve just bought a freehold terraced house. When I was flat/house hunting I wouldn’t even go and see a leasehold house. As soon as I realised it wasn’t freehold I lost interest. I don’t think I’m alone there so that limits the number of prospective buyers. 

And I have to say I like the security of knowing I completely own my house and I’m not at the mercy of the management company / freeholder. It’s a real sense of security. 

So my (non expert) advice would be to but the freehold. 

Completely agree.  There are many people (myself included) who would not consider a leasehold house. 

Pay the c.£2k for the freehold and don't worry about selling your house for £10k-£20k less due to it being a leasehold house.  No question about it that if it stays leasehold you will have a smaller pool of potential people interested in buying your house.  

Also there is talk of leasehold changing to commonhold.  Simply avoid the hassle of getting drawn into any of that and have a freehold house.  

daveyjp

Back when this lease was granted it wouldn't have been for the potential 'cash cow' reasons we now see.  They were very common and almost expected on new builds, then times changed.

However as leases are now seen as potential cash cows I'd buy the freehold just to remove that potential stigma.  Looks like the days of ten times the annual rent are gone, but I'd still try and pay less. 

RHemmings

Another vote for buying the leasehold. It will cost you £2K. I would think it would make it easier to sell your house. I can't speak for others, but all else being equal, I would always go for a freehold house over a leasehold house. And, the amount of discount to the price I would want a leasehold house to have compared to the value as a freehold property would be more than £2K. 

RD_DS

ripplyuk said:

I wouldn’t bother. This is not like the usual leasehold on a flat with fees rising each year and dealing with management companies etc. ...

Bit of a late response. I was starting to think this way but I spoke to a couple of local Estate Agents and they both said that many buyers are quite blinkered by their opinion on leasehold; the moment thay see that it's not Freehold, they move on to the next property in their search. 

eddddy

RD_DS said:

ripplyuk said:

I wouldn’t bother. This is not like the usual leasehold on a flat with fees rising each year and dealing with management companies etc. ...

Bit of a late response. I was starting to think this way but I spoke to a couple of local Estate Agents and they both said that many buyers are quite blinkered by their opinion on leasehold; the moment thay see that it's not Freehold, they move on to the next property in their search. 

I think that a bit more context is needed for that comment.

• There are areas where all the houses were originally sold on 999 year leases (with ground rents of £5 to £20 and no service charges) - so perhaps 98% of those houses are still leasehold.

• So if you want to buy a house in that area - it's probably going to be leasehold.

But...

• There are other areas where 98% of the houses are freehold - and the 2% that are leasehold might have shorter leases and might have escalating ground rents

• So if you want to buy a house in that area - many people would avoid the leasehold ones

So it depends on what type of area the estate agents were talking about.

lfc321

As I think the different reactions above show, it will depend very much on your local area whether or not owning the freehold makes your house easier to sell down the line.
 I live in an area where the vast majority of houses are leasehold (ours is on a 999 year lease at £1.05 per year). I don’t think anyone buying in this area would be put off by the house being leasehold: it’s the norm, and from what I have seen has no impact at all on house value. 

If you live in an area where it’s not the norm, there might be a bigger impact on potential buyers’ attitudes (especially given all the negative recent publicity around leasehold, which really applies to more modern leases). 

zagubov

What possible benefits could it bestow on the house fro future purchasers? Many wouldn't read past the word to explore the plusses of the property.

If you had a giant phone mast in your garden you could at least brag about your excellent phone signal, and japanese knotweed might limit landslides in a sloping garden, but how do you finish a sentence that starts with "it benefits from an unnecessary leasehold because.."?