Hello. My name is Kate Lister, and I am a leaseholder. Phew! I can’t tell you how good it feels to just say that out loud. Like many other leaseholders, I started off thinking it was no big deal, that everyone was doing it and that I could stop any time I wanted to, but four years later and I find myself thoroughly fed up with it. I’m handing over more and more money each year, with no clear way of getting out of this mess.

If you have been living under a freehold rock, allow me to explain what a leasehold property actually is. Once upon a time, it was decided that the horrible, peasanty people weren’t allowed to own their own land because only fancy, highfalutin folk can do that.

The peasants were allowed to build their houses on the rich people’s land – at their own expense. They could work there if they wanted to, but they would never really own their own homes because the land beneath them belonged to someone else. It doesn’t matter that they bought and paid it – the soil it stood on wasn’t theirs, so neither was their house.

This is what is known as a leasehold property and they are first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1089. If you live in a property where you own it all, including the soil it is built on, you have what is called a freehold property. Congratulations.

Fast forward to 2025 and I am living in one of 4.77 million leasehold properties in the UK – and we still don’t actually own our own homes. We only own the right to live there for a set period of time, usually between 99 and 125 years. Just like the feudal serfs of medieval Britain, my home is owned by the landlord who leases out the building and ground it stands on and is responsible for the running of the building.

I........

© iNews