I had a negative experience with a leasehold flat when I was younger so, now that my DS is flat-hunting, I'm inclined to advise him to buy a share-of-freehold flat instead. There are fewer of them, but they do exist in his price range. The benefit is obviously that he won't have obligations to a potentially exploitative freeholder. But are there downsides too? There will always be shared hallways to paint, shared roofs to maintain etc. If there is no single corporate freeholder, is it more difficult to get other flat owners to pay their share? Are obligations usually written into some sort of shared ownership agreement? Are there red flags to look out for?