leasehold
Zorg Directory » Real Estate » leasehold
</p><p>Leasehold is a temporary form of property ownership. Under it, a contract, known as the lease, is signed between the original owner, known as the freeholder, and the person who wishes to assume temporary ownership of the property, known as the leasholder. The duration of a lease can vary significantly but is usually extremely long, a lease of one hundred years, say, being not untypical. </p><p> The terms of the lease will state what the responsibilities of both the leaseholder and freeholder are. The leaseholder may be required to pay ground rent for the land on which the property sits, and either he or the freeholder may be responsible for the property’s upkeep.</p><p> Leases are transferable, meaning that the leaseholder is able to sell the property on to someone else. However, it is possible the terms of the lease will attach conditions to this. Leases are most common in flats. Leaseholders take on ownership of each flat while the landlord retains ownership of the building as a whole. Usually, under these arrangements, the landlord will be responsible for the basic upkeep of the building and often the provision of certain services. The leaseholders may be required to pay a service fee in return for these services.</p><p>