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<p>Mark - <br>
</p>
<p>You are right to distinguish England (and Wales) from Scotland. A
quick Google confirms that "When buying a residential property in
Scotland, there is no freehold and leasehold distinction.
Generally, what you buy in Scotland is 100% yours and you can say
everything is 'freehold' in Scotland. In Scotland, once you buy a
property, you can usually give a tenancy to someone else so they
can occupy it for a rent." So that Leslie Stephen (with a holiday
house in England) and Mr Ramsay (with one in Scotland) are in
quite different situations.</p>
<p>When I bought a unit in a block of flats (apartments) in England
in the early 1970s a lawyer told me that one should never buy a
unit in a block freehold, as if you do you (or your neighbours)
will end with something called floating freehold, which makes it
very difficult to stop owners doing anti-social things. In such
situations leasehold is (I was told) a form of protection, as the
owner of the property (the leaser) retains certain rights that can
prevent lessees doing mad and objectionable things with and in
their flats. Why (or if) this is not the case in Scotland, I know
not.</p>
<p>Of course, you should also check how many years your lease has to
run . . .<br>
</p>
<p>One thing I have learned re owning a flat / apartment is this. In
every block of flats (as, a colleague once told me, in every
English Department) there is at least one mad person. Dealing with
him or her is easier and cheaper if there are 150 units than if
there are 15.</p>
<p>And while we are on the subject, a bit of sound advice is: never
buy a property with a flat roof. You need the law of gravity on
your side when it rains.</p>
<p>Jeremy H<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15.07.2020 15:44, Mark Hussey via
Vwoolf wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">A friend in London once explained to me
what a “leasehold” meant—but I’ve forgotten the details. It
seems peculiar to the UK (or perhaps just England?), where
you “own” a flat in a building but you still have to pay
some feudal lord in (say) Cornwall) a nominal rent for the
land on which the building in which your flat is sits. Is
that right? </span><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI
Emoji",sans-serif">😉</span></p>
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