Is It Possible For a Flat To Be Both Leasehold and Freehold?



Posted: Sunday, March 20, 2011

by Andy Szebeni
ALEP

Regular questions among those fresh to the notion of leasehold with regard to possessing an apartment are; How do I change to a freehold?/ How do I make my flat freehold instead of leasehold?/ How do I acquire a freehold rather than a leasehold flat?. The phrasing of these inquiries highlights a widespread and understandable uncertainty on the subject of the nature of the connection between freehold and leasehold in private residential property.

In essence, an apartment that is leasehold will always be leasehold. Any adjustments that you make will not 'convert' it to freehold. There is a critical exception in the form of Commonhold tenure which we will not address here. The most important reason we can overlook it is that it is an very rare type of tenure in the UK and tricky to accumulate the required amount of neighbours to make it work. We do nevertheless deal with it in a separate editorial.

Keep in mind that the lease is a legal document governing the connection between the leaseholder and the freeholder. This outlines the rights and obligations of each party. It is a reasonable document to have as it makes sure people existing in close proximity conduct themselves in a fashion that is reasonable and considerate. Many flat owners want to abolish leases because they oblige them to look after their timber windows, have carpets fitted instead of wooden laminate floors or refrain from fitting satellite dishes. However, these provisions frequently make communal living more considerate and help to keep up property values when properly applied.

As long as they can fulfill certain circumstances, most owners of leasehold flats in England and Wales can purchase their share of freehold. If they do that, then they will simultaneously be a partial freeholder along with a leaseholder. The lease does not disappear: it continues to govern the way people have to behave who are responsible for the development.

So now one can comprehend why the question 'How can I convert to a freehold?' is actually the wrong question. Nothing novel is created or converted in reality. When acquiring a share of freehold an apartment owner is buying the freehold for their section of the estate from the current freeholder. The apartment owner continues to be a party to the existing lease agreement. Then again, they very nearly become their own freeholder, bizarre as that may seem.

This is not as mad as it seems in the beginning as it is extremely uncommon in lots of blocks of flats, where the neighbours club together to obtain the freehold, for each flat owner to chip in. These non-participants carry on being leaseholders but now their freeholder has altered. Typically, all else stays the unchanged as far as they are concerned and it costs the non-participants nothing. Nonetheless, they miss out on the benefits that come with owning their share of freehold. Then again, arguably, they also don't take on several of the jobs that come with owning a share of freehold.

About the author
Andy Szebeni is part of the management team of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners. ALEP has more than 100 members, each vetted before joining. They include solicitors that help people buy their share of freehold, surveyors specialising in lease extension, intermediaries, managing agents and other professionals in England and Wales specialising in the field of leasehold enfranchisement. Havea look at the searchable list of vetted members at http://alep.org.uk/findaleaseholdsolicitorsurveyor.
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