Can you inherit a Freehold?

[deadwitchproject]

My sister lives in a flat in London, part of a Victorian conversion with 3 other flats. Her Freeholder lives in one of the other flats. The FH is now quite elderly and has many health issues. Her only relative is a niece who never visits who lives in the NE.

My sister is worried that when her FH dies, the niece will inherit the freehold and increase the service charge on the flats if she decides to keep it or sell it on to a property company who will do the same.

If the niece inherits the leasehold flat, will she automatically inherit the freehold too? Sorry if there is an obvious answer. Neither of us are very good with property matters.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

I would think that as the Freehold is part of her estate, then yes it will also be part of the inheritance.

[beansagain]

Yes, the freehold will form part of her estate and pass to her niece if she is the beneficiary under her will / next of kin who may in turn sell it although, subject to some exceptions, she will need to offer it to the leaseholders first.

Residential service charges are highly regulated so anyone who owns the freehold will be subject to the same limitations and obligations so your sister should not worry unduly.

This website is an extremely useful resource for leaseholders and I think there's a phone number too if you have more questions.

[deadwitchproject]

That's great advice, I'll pass it on. Thank you both.