Chief rent on freehold property

[Primotomb]

Just received home buyers report which states "tenure believed to be freehold subject to a small chief rent of £20 per annum" Obviously I'll check with my solicitor but any idea what this might be for?

We have that, are you in the north west by any chance? I'd never heard of it but apparently it's quite common around here and somewhere else, the south west possibly? My (local) solicitor told me it was nothing to worry about, just pay it. They all get abolished in 2030 anyway.

A chief rent is sometimes called a rent charge. It is not the same as ground rent, though people sometimes confuse them. They are typically paid annually to someone who has no other interest in the land, unlike a freeholder who owns the land and may charge a ground rent for having a building on their land.

From memory - I did some research on this at work once - they often occur where a large estate has been broken up and land using for building, e.g. for miners' and other workers' houses. Quite common in the north west as the pp stated.

Yes geordiepidge in the north west