Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates

Transcript:

Hello!

Technically speaking all land in the UK is ultimately owned by the Crown and the most that anyone else can have is called an estate in the land. “Estate in land” means the rights which a person has to control and use the land. An estate owner is often said to have ownership (proprietà) of the land but legal specialists prefer to use the term “tenure” to express the way people “hold” land.

The three main forms of estate – or forms of tenure – in the UK are: freehold, leasehold and commonhold.

Freehold

• Houses (villa singola con giardino) are generally sold freehold, but newer houses may be leasehold.
• Freehold means that you own the building – or property – and the land it is on.
• You do not have to pay ground rent to anyone.
• You can freely make alterations to your property if you have planning permission (permesso di costruzione rilasciato dal Comune).

Leasehold

• Flats (appartamenti) are generally sold leasehold.
• If you own a leasehold property, you do not own the land it is on and you own neither the shared parts, like the entrance hallway (l’androne) and stairs, nor the structure of the building.
• You must pay ground rent and a service charge to the landlord.
• You have to comply with (rispettare) any restrictions the landlord puts in the lease – e.g. not to have pets or not to run a business (gestire un’attività) from your flat.
• You must have the landlord’s permission to make structural alterations to your property even if you have planning permission.
• The first person who buys a leasehold property signs a lease to use and occupy the flat for a certain number of years, like 99 years. Every time the property is sold, the lease is assigned to the new buyer, so the length reduces. As your lease gets shorter, the value of your flat will decrease.

Commonhold

• Commonhold is a form of ownership – or tenure – for multi-occupancy developments. Each flat, townhouse (villetta a schiera) or house in the complex owns the freehold of the home, and a commonhold or residents’ association owns and manages the common parts of the property.
• There are standardised rules for commonhold.
• Commonhold gives owners more control over the management of their development than leasehold does, but very few commonholds have been created since the system was introduced in 2004.

An interesting statistic: Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population. About 25,000 landowners – mainly members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country.

Thank you very much and see you next time for more Peter’s Pills to improve your Legal English!

Read more here: “Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population“.

Legal English – Sommario delle Lezioni

• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 59 – Appurtenent vs In gross
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 58 – Building societies and Banks
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 57 – Valid, void and voidable contracts
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 56 – Rescission
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 55 – Golden expressions
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 54 – Pre-emption right vs Right of first refusal
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 53 – What do we mean by “agent” of a company?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 52 – Voting at a meeting
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 51 – Contracts vs Deeds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 50 – Executive and Non-Executive Directors
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 49 – Transfer of shares vs transmission of shares
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 48 – They, them, their for singular nouns
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 47 – Jointly and severally
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 46 – Invoice words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 45 – Quotation
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 44 – Gazumping and Gazundering
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 43 – English words that the English do not understand
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 42 – Easement vs Profit à prendre
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 41 -er, -or and -ee names
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 40 – The Objects Clause
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 39 – When is Latin hot, and when is it not?
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 38 – Default
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 37 – Company Agent
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 36 – Injunction (false freind)
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 35 – Mortgage
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 34 – Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 33 – Transferor, Transferee and Transmittee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 32 – Tax evasion, tax mitigation and tax avoidance
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 31 – Numbers
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 30 – Ordinary resolutions vs special resolutions
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 29 – AGM vs EGM
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 28 – A going concern
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 27 – Collocations: Violate, breach, break, disobey and infringe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 26 – Company meeting words
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 25 – Mortgagor vs Mortgagee
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 24 – Fixed charges vs Floating charges
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 23 – Doctrine
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 22 – Construe
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 21 – Sign vs Execute
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 20 – The closing statement
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 19 – Writing Business Emails
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 18 – Limited companies
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 17 – Annual Accounts
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 16 – Meetings
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 15 – Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 14 – Here and there compounds
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 13 – Subject Matter
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 12 – The clear days rule
• Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 11 – Shareholder, Member or Holder of shares?
• Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 10 – Competition Law

Peter Liebenberg

Peter Liebenberg è uno specialista nella formazione delle persone nella conoscenza della lingua inglese. Ha creato molti corsi nel campo dell’inglese per professionisti, tra cui English for banking, English for business e English for Insurance, ma ha sempre avuto un debole per l’inglese legale. Altri corsi che ha creato comprendono Phrasal Verbs I e II. Quando Peter non fa formazione, corre a Parco Sempione, crea arte nel suo studio sulla Martesana e fa volontariato.