Like most non-renting flat-dwellers, I call myself a home-owner or owner-occupier, but that isn’t quite true. I don’t own my flat; I am a leaseholder. What I bought was the right to occupy it for however many years are left on the lease – and as the lease runs down, the flat is worth less and less. Conversely, this is why, if you were so minded, you could find a prime London flat for a (relative) pittance if the lease has only a few years to run, and why long leases generally come with a premium.
The government describes this system as feudal – in the rights it gives to the owner of the freehold vis-à-vis the leaseholder – and the housing minister Matthew Pennycook has committed to replacing it with commonhold as the default system, which is similar to the way things work in much of the Continent.
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