Comments on: If i bought a freehold groung rent for £12,000 does and 50 years left on lease,will i be able to rent the flat?

By: SimonC

SimonC — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:37:10 +0000

Pip is correct, but his answer may not be clear to a layman.

A freehold owner is essentially the absolute owner of the property. A freehold owner can grant a lease for a set period which gives someone else the right to exclusive occupation of that property in return for the freehold owner (the landlord) receiving either a regular rent, or a large premium up front and a much smaller ground rent.

Even after a lease has been granted, the freehold owner can sell the property, but the new owner is subject to the lease. That means that you cannot live there or let it out. The 50 year lease is owned by someone else, and to all intents and purposes it is their property until the 50 year lease expires.

It may be a good investment if you are young. You will get nothing for your £12,000 for 50 years, but then you will have the entire property which may be worth a lot more.

By: Pip

Pip — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:10:47 +0000

If you see the FREEHOLD for sale at £12k, then chances are someone else already owns the leasehold on that land, and lives there.
Your freehold interest would allow you to collect the ground rent (£150) and the freehold will revert to you at the end of the lease in 50 years.

Might be a good investment, check the lease and see if there is any provision for the rent to be reviewed (i.e. increased along with inflation)

By: dee

dee — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:30:28 +0000

we own a ground floor freehold flat but we also own the lease on the flat upstairs, he owns his flat and has 70 years on the lease but noone would buy a flat with less than 99 years so when he wants to move he will have to buy the lease from us. that being said your question doesnt make much sence, what exactly are you asking?

By: ?

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:52:27 +0000

If it was freehold it wouldn’t have a lease.