Freehold house on leasehold land? Is that possible?

[Hey12345]

We are in the middle of purchasing a property that was advertised as freehold. Months down the line with things progressing, the land registry checks came back and the land which the house is built on has 2 separate leases, for the same person, but at 2 different terms. One isn’t coming to an end for hundreds of years, but one is coming to an end in the next 80 or so years.
Our conveyancing solicitor said that there might not be any issues from this, it may have been forgotten about, or someone may claim the land and request rent for the land. He also said there is insurance to protect us from this but it might put people off buying if we were to sell.

I am meeting with him on Tuesday to go over everything before we exchange on the sale. But I’m wondering if any of you have any experience of this? Is it possible for a property to be freehold on leasehold land? My understanding that the property is therefore leasehold too?

And, any other advice like would you go for it or stay clear? It will be our potential forever home but I don’t want my daughters to have any issues if they want to sell
once my husband and I are gone!

You really do need to rely on your legal advice here as you clearly have a complex scenario here re the registered title(s) and what is actually being sold.
Such ‘historical’ leases aren’t unique but they are rare and it reads as if you’ve got a 1,000 year lease, a 350 year one and then the property itself.
So it doesn’t fit the more common scenario where the freeholder owns the land and building and have leased that to a tenant. I imagine the ‘historical’ lease(s) cover more than just the property you are buying as a result so something a local conveyancer might be familiar with.
Mirabai is quite correct re why a lease may not be merged but again I don’t think this is the more common scenario where that plays out.
If your purchase is going to go ahead I would put my money on the insurance (indemnity policy) option you refer to. In such cases you are insuring against the risk of the lease(s) coming back to bite you so any digging into the subject increases that risk and may take the option off the table
And if you are buying with a mortgage your lender will have first say re Y or N re buying
And whilst the property is a probate sale, so the executor probably doesn’t know much about what happened when the property was last bought, it’s not been unsellable down the years. Understanding the impact of the different registered information is very important but that’s what you are paying the conveyancer for.
As for the EA it will be interesting what explanation they offer re the ‘freehold’ aspect but suspect it may simply be what the executor (seller) told them as they just assumed it was