What Is a Leasehold Property? A Complete Guide for Buyers in England and Wales

What leasehold means

A leasehold property gives you the right to occupy a home for a fixed number of years under a contract called a lease. The land itself is owned by a separate party called the freeholder, and the lease sets out what you can and cannot do, what you must pay them each year, and how long your right to live there lasts. Leasehold is the dominant ownership form for flats in England and Wales, and around 4.5 million homes are held under leases.

When you buy a leasehold property you are buying time on the lease, not the freehold of the building. If the lease runs out, the property reverts to the freeholder. In practice this never happens because most leaseholders extend the lease long before that becomes an issue, but the principle matters because lease length directly affects what your home is worth and whether you can sell or remortgage it.

How a lease works

Every lease has a starting term, typically 99, 125, 250, or 999 years. The remaining term is the figure that matters for valuation and lendability. As the remaining term shrinks, the property becomes harder to mortgage and harder to sell. Most lenders insist on a minimum of around 80 years remaining at the point of purchase, and many will not lend below that without significant conditions.

A lease also sets out:

• Ground rent, an annual sum paid to the freeholder. New leases granted from 30 June 2022 are capped at one peppercorn (in practice, zero) under the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022. Older leases may have ground rents of a few hundred pounds per year, sometimes with escalation clauses.
• Service charge, the leaseholder's share of the cost of maintaining the building's communal areas, structure, lifts, and any shared services. This is variable and depends on what the freeholder spends.
• Restrictions, often called covenants. These can cover pets, subletting, alterations, business use, and almost anything else.
• Forfeiture clauses, which give the freeholder the right to take the property back if you breach the lease.

What to check before buying a leasehold property

Before exchanging contracts on any leasehold home, you should know:

1. The exact remaining lease term in years and months

2. The current ground rent and any escalation clauses

3. The current service charge and the trend over the last 3 years

4. Any major works planned in the next 5 years and the leaseholder's share

5. Whether the freeholder is a private company, a resident-owned freehold company, or a local authority

6. Any restrictions on what you can do (pets, alterations, subletting)

7. Whether the building has any cladding, balcony, or fire safety issues that could affect insurance and saleability

Your conveyancer will obtain a Leasehold Property Enquiries pack (LPE1) from the freeholder or managing agent. This contains most of the answers above. Read it carefully.

How to find lease length without buying

You can check the registered tenure (freehold or leasehold) for any property in England and Wales by searching its address or postcode on Property Passport UK. The platform sources tenure data directly from HM Land Registry, the official register, and shows it on the property page. For full lease term details you may still need to obtain a copy of the title register from HM Land Registry directly, but Property Passport UK gives you the starting point in seconds and tells you whether the property is leasehold at all.

Look up any leasehold property on Property Passport UK

Property Passport UK shows tenure (freehold or leasehold) sourced directly from HM Land Registry for every one of the 19.35 million properties in England and Wales. For leasehold properties, you can also see lease length, ground rent, and service charge information where it has been published. Search by postcode or address at [propertypassport.uk/search](/search), or look up an EPC at [/epc](/epc).

Related guides

• What is a leasehold property
• How to extend a lease
• Leasehold Reform Act 2024 explained
• Service charge disputes