Q. What factors do I need to take into account when buying leasehold?

A. Under English law, you can only have one freehold property on each piece of land - so leasehold was adopted as a way of getting round this problem in order to give flat-dwellers a degree of security of tenure. With a lease, you are effectively a kind of tenant, having bought rights to a property for an extended period of time. As such you are bound by the terms of the agreement, which are set out in the lease itself – subject of course to the various statutory rules and regulations. One of the key things you need to consider is the length of time still outstanding on the lease. Anything less than 80 years and you would encounter problems if you wanted to sell. You are legally entitled to have the lease extended – as long as you have already held it for a minimum of two years. However, this comes at a price, since the relevant legislation entitles the freeholder make a charge for this by way of compensation for having to wait longer to get their property back. Another reason why the 80 year mark is so important is that at this point, in addition to the afore-mentioned compensation, you also become liable to pay the freeholder so-called “Marriage Value” – i.e. 50% of the increase in the property’s perceived market value due to the lease extension. Clauses in the lease concerning repairs, and responsibility for them – also require careful study. Ditto, matters such as ground rent, service charges, insurances, maintenance schedules, rights over/responsibilities for communal areas, parking provision, the rules governing sub-letting…the list goes on. Ultimately, however, the key thing to remember about leasehold agreements is that while they all share certain basic elements, there is actually no such thing as a standard lease. Even in a modern development, they will often vary, while in the case of older leases, they can contain all manner of weird and wonderful clauses. The devil is always in the detail. So – don’t even think of trying to do your own conveyancing. Going through the terms and conditions of a lease with a fine toothcomb really is a job for the experts!