UK Landlord Forum / Life

hi

i would like to buy a property in London(1-2 bedroom aprt) but all the properties I see ,are Leasehold .I am not from UK,and would like to ask you if this is a "tradition " to buy in UK leasehold properties instead of freehold?(isn't it a little bit risky(i mean the company own the land,and you own the right to live there,so its not really yours)? who's the company or person who own the land when is leasehold please?

Is there a website that you could recommend me only with freehold properties,please?

As a foreign buyer would you give me some advices or useful websites to read,please

thank you in advanced for the help!!

It's extremely rare to find an apartment/flat that is freehold in England. The majority of freehold properties are houses.

The biggest UK property portals are:

www.rightmove.co.uk
www.findaproperty.com
www.primelocation.com

You'll find plenty of apartments/houses there. But I doubt you'll find freehold apartments...

The majority of flats in England are leasehold.  It would be riskier to buy a Freehold flat, which there are a lot of in Scarborough actually on the north east coast, as you would then have to negotiate with all the other owners in the apartment block if any work was required to communal areas on who was to pay what. 

With Leasehold the company will look after all communal repairs.

What you need to check is the number of years left on the lease, usually flats come with 999 year leases when new so in effect you own the property outright.

Your solictor will check all this out anyway it isn't really riskier than Freehold in any way.

Hi,
Well its great to know that you are interested in investing moeny in real estate, but iam sorry to say that i don't think so that it will be tradition may be it will be some other reason. Real estate investment is very good option for future savings. All the best!