Freehold is a term used to define one of the three main ways to own a property. The other two are leasehold and commonhold , which actually is not that common. The legal definition of Freehold is permanent and absolute tenure of land or property with freedom to dispose of it at will
What does owning Freehold mean for me?
This means you will own the property and the land it sits on including the air space up until the lower stratum. Subject to any local authority regulations and planning and building regulation requirements you can do anything to your property.
Saying that you will need to instruct a conveyancer to review the deeds of your Freehold property to ensure there are no restrictive covenants which will pass with each sale and remain enforceable.
Should I only buy freehold and not leasehold?
There are benefits to both freehold and leasehold properties you will need to consider your own circumstances considering both commercial and emotional factors.
With a Freehold property you will not pay ground rent, but it is likely you had to pay a higher premium when purchasing the property in the beginning.
Owners of Freehold properties do not have to pay annual service charges towards ongoing repair and maintenance of the property. You will be responsible for the maintenance of your own property as often as you want and to the standard you want.
With Freehold properties you can make any changes to your property without requiring consent other than the standard local authority requirements.
When you sell your Freehold house you do not need to deal with the Freeholders requirement as you are free to sell and you do not need to worry about having to extend the lease as your ownership will be forever.
Simply put, there is no reason not to buy a property because of the type of tenure.
The legal process to sell property
To sell property you need to find a buyer and instruct a conveyancer like AVRillo. They are the top Reading conveyancing solicitors. You will be guided on how to sell property starting off with how to instruct us. We will set out all our fees from the outset and give detailed information of what we will do as your legal advisors, and what you need to do.
You will need to complete all our forms and provide us with relevant information so we can be satisfied and confirm to the buyers Solicitors you are the legal owner with the right to sell.
The forms you complete at the start will include a fixtures and fittings form and a Property Information Form which goes to the buyers Solicitors as part of the draft contracts.
Once you have paid and satisfied the initial requirements set out by the government to instruct us contracts will be sent over including the legal deeds and the buyers Solicitor will review these and raise enquiries.
We will deal with the legal points and send you the non legal points to deal with, as you will have all the information or you should have it from when you purchased, so you can look in the old file or retrieve it from your old conveyancer.
We will keep answering these questions and sign the contract and transfer until the buyer is happy then you exchange contracts after finding out the settlement figure of any existing mortgage you have on the property.
On the day of completion money will come from the buyers Solicitor the mortgage is paid off estate agents paid we get paid and any balance returned to you.
