Should I buy a leasehold

[Em2122]

Been looking at old terraces and some are leasehold? I’m not sure if this should put me off or would it be hard to resell? I know new properties with leasehold can seem like a nightmare but not sure about old houses?

You'd need to buy the lease before you could buy the house I believe

I wouldn’t buy a leasehold house.

It depends. Are the leases really long (like several hundred years)? Is it normal for the area? Are there any communal charges (this is the issue with new build leaseholds) or just ground rent? Can you buy the freehold? The estate agent should be able to answer most of these questions.
It wouldn’t put me off if it was a very long lease, normal for the area, peppercorn ground tent and no service charges (or low charges with reasonable increases).

How long left on the lease? What is the ground rent? What other costs would the freeholder be able to charge you for stuff eg for adding a conservatory? Would the freeholder charge for confirming that the rent is paid or for producing accounts? Are there communal areas that the freeholder owns and you contribute to maintainence costs? Estate agent should have the answer to all these queries.

Leasehold houses are common in some places. Depends on how long the lease is and what the ground rent or service charge is.

I will ask those questions about length and how much is it.

If there is ground rent payable, check very carefully what the terms for possible future increases are. If it is set to double every 10 years (say), then selling on that kind of lease in the future can be hard to due the sums getting larger and larger

Personally I wouldn’t but then my cousins flat has a 999 year lease on it
Will it still be standing in 3019
Doesn’t make sense to me

Generally the older type houses with a leasehold of 999 years are as good as freehold.

Ours is a 999 year lease with peppercorn ground rent, so we pay nothing and there are no restrictions.

Leasehold properties are quite common in the NW.