Right, so bare with me here as I've never even considered buying leasehold so I know nothing about it,
but let's say I'm looking at a flat and it currently has a lease of 90 years. So I buy it, pay off my mortgage, but then your saying that because it took me 25 years to do that and my lease is only for 65 years that my flat would now be worth less because of the shorter lease period, and to extend that lease I have to pay thousands of pounds more?
(Bazongaloid, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:22, 3 replies, latest was 12 years ago)

This is how I undderstand it
it's madness i tell you
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:24, Reply)

Yes. How shit is that?

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:26, Reply)

So who is that owns the lease?
And why can't you just buy the flat off them instead of leasing it?
(Bazongaloid, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:26, Reply)

whoever the landlord is
could be the people in the block collectively. could be the builder. could be the queen. could be an investor.

you can't own the freehold of a flat independently of the rest of the block. the structure, roof, common parts etc are owned by the landlord, who then leases the live-able bits.

what you CAN do is get together with the other residents and force the landlord to sell to you, provided enough people want to do it. then you can grant yourself a new 999 year lease at a peppercorn premium!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:31, Reply)

I don't really understand why you can't.
Sounds like a massive con to me. Why can't leases be made really long, like 500 years or something?
(Bazongaloid, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:32, Reply)

they can
you can agree whatever you want. but you can only force the landlord into another 90. as a VERY rough rule of thumb, you only see short-term leases like these in london. the rest of the country tend to be on 999 year leases, or even 2,000 year leases, so of course it's academic.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:33, Reply)

that's exactly right
you are renting, like any other tenancy, but on a longer term and at a low rent to reflect the fact that a premium was paid for the grant of the lease at the beginning.

i have a second floor flat. effectively i have the right to use the space between the floor and the ceiling for the next 137 years. except that the landlord made damn sure to demise the ceiling to me, since plaster is expensive!

it's a simplistic view. it gets factored into the purchase price, eg which is why share of freehold is more attractive. and for a second eg, ideally you will extend at about 85 years so that it's much cheaper.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:29, Reply)

Sounds like it doesn't work though
since flats are all you can buy in central london, the prices of them aren't very attractive.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:31, Reply)

i think it's widely recognised that it's not ideal
but there is no way to change it.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:32, Reply)

Au contrair swipey
there is always a way to change it, there is simply no inclination to change it.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:33, Reply)

oh well, fair enough
it gives me a lot of work though. landlord and tenant disputes are meat and drink to me.

dullest letter ever: "i act for your landlord. stop hanging your dirty sports socks out on the balcony. it breaches the nuisance clause in your lease."
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 11 May 2012, 14:37, Reply)