Freehold vs leasehold

Last updated: 2026-07-26

Freehold means full, indefinite ownership of the building and land — typical for houses. Leasehold means ownership for a fixed term (the lease) — typical for flats; once the lease expires, ownership reverts to the freeholder. A short remaining lease (under roughly 80 years) makes a flat harder to sell or mortgage, and extending it (a lease extension) has a cost. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 aims to make this process easier and cheaper — see Legal updates for details.

Status of this page

This page is part of the site’s initial skeleton. The summary above is a concise, fact-checked overview — the full, expanded version (with more examples, sources, and detail) will be added as part of the tasks in ISSUES.md (section M4 — Content).