Accredited official statistics

English Housing Survey 2023 to 2024: leasehold experience fact sheet

Published 17 July 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a national survey of people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. It is one of the longest standing government surveys and was first run in 1967.

This fact sheet

This fact sheet examines some key characteristics of self-identified owner occupier leaseholders, defined here as outright owners, mortgagers or shared owners, whose property is owned via a leasehold, or a leasehold and share of the freehold.

The fact sheet covers the amount of ground rent and service charge paid by leaseholders, the perceived fairness of service charge, demographic characteristics, and age and height of the dwellings where leaseholders reside. It also explores regional variation in leasehold characteristics, freehold owners of leasehold flats and complaints.

Further information about leaseholders is available in the English Housing Survey live tables, including whether accommodation is owned freehold or leasehold, demographic and economic characteristics of owner occupier leaseholders and freeholders, and average annual ground rent and service charges for owner occupier leaseholders in England. For data on leasehold dwellings, please see the Leasehold Dwellings estimate.

Acknowledgements and further queries

Each year the English Housing Survey relies on the contributions of a large number of people and organisations. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) would particularly like to thank the following people and organisations, without whom the 2023-24 survey and this report, would not have been possible: all the households who gave up their time to take part in the survey, The National Centre for Social Research, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and CADS Housing Surveys.

This report was produced by Melanie Doyle and Charlie Ridley-Johnson at The National Centre for Social Research, in collaboration with Stephen Pottinger at MHCLG.

If you have any queries about this report, would like any further information or have suggestions for analyses you would like to see included in future EHS reports, please contact ehs@communities.gov.uk.

The responsible analyst for this report is: Stephen Pottinger, Data, Analysis, Statistics and Surveys Division, MHCLG. Contact via ehs@communities.gov.uk.

1. Ground rent and service charges

Ground rent

Ground rent is a fee a leaseholder must pay a freeholder as a condition of their lease. Cognitive testing undertaken by the EHS team shows that some leaseholders do not know what ground rent is, or confuse it with their service charge. Leaseholders living in flats may be unaware that they pay ground rent because it is included as part of the service charge, while leaseholders living in houses may be unaware of their leasehold status if they do not pay ground rent.

Overall, the majority of leaseholders (77%) reported paying ground rent, including very low, token rents (known as peppercorn), while the remaining 23% reported paying zero ground rent, Annex Table 1.1.

Leaseholders living in houses (86%) were more likely than those living in flats (70%) to report paying ground rent, although this may reflect awareness of the charge rather than payment.

There was some regional variation. The proportion of leaseholders who reported they paid ground rent was higher in the North West (91%) than in London (74%), the South East (67%), the South West (68%) and the West Midlands (59%). The inverse (the proportion of those paying zero ground rent) is shown in the image:

Proportion of leaseholders that pay ‘zero’ ground rent

Among leaseholders who paid ground rent, average (mean) ground rent for all leaseholders was £304 per annum (median £120 per annum). Annual ground rent was typically lower for leaseholders living in houses (mean £199, median £20) than those living in flats (mean £343, median £160) although this is likely to be driven by regional differences.

Leasehold houses are most common in the North West, whereas leasehold flats are most common in London. With the North West excluded, mean ground rent for houses (£360, median £100) was similar to that for flats (£346, median £160), Annex Table 1.2.

Average annual ground rent in flats and houses

There was considerable regional variation, with mean annual ground rent ranging from £110 in the North West to £650 in the South West. Median annual ground rent ranged from £14 in the North West to £240 in London. The median is included here for context as mean ground rent may be influenced by a small number of high ground rents, particularly in regional estimates which are based on a relatively small sample size.

Mean annual ground rent was generally lower in the North than the South. For example, mean annual ground rents in the North West (mean £110, median £14), North East (mean £119, median £56) and Yorkshire and the Humber (mean £172, median £29) were lower than in the South West (mean £650, median £200), South East (mean £413, median £147) and London (mean £397, median £240).

For leaseholders as a whole, average ground rent increased over the last 5 years from £191 (median £50) in 2018-19 to £304 (median £120) in 2023-24, English Housing Survey live table FT2233.

Service charge

Overall, around two-thirds (65%) of leaseholders reported they paid a service charge. This is different for those in houses and flats. While the majority of leaseholders living in flats (88%) paid a service charge, only a quarter (25%) of those in houses did so, Annex Table 1.3.

The proportion of leaseholders paying a service charge also varied by region with leaseholders in northern regions generally less likely to pay service charge than those in the south. The proportion paying a service charge ranged from 21% in the North West to 90% in the East of England – the low prevalence of service charge in the North West is likely to reflect the high proportion of houses, the main leasehold property type in the North West.

Among leaseholders who paid a service charge, the average (mean) annual service charge was £1,720 (median £1,375), and was higher for leaseholders living in flats (mean £1,857, median £1,500) than those living in houses (mean £881, median £300), Annex Table 1.4.

For leaseholders living in flats, annual (mean) service charge was higher in London (mean £2,338, median £1,865) than the Rest of England (mean £1,561, median £1,300).

For leaseholders as a whole, average (mean) annual service charge was lower in the North West (mean £811, median £500) than in London (mean £2,337, median £1,920), the South East (mean £1,612, median £1,599) and South West (mean £1,714, median £1,020).

Mean ground rent and service charge costs for leaseholders by region

The average service charge reported by leaseholders across the country has remained relatively stable in recent years, with no significant change over the past five years.

Among leaseholders paying service charge, almost two thirds (62%) thought their service charge was too high, and around one third (34%) thought their service charge was fair. Only 3% thought their service charge was too low, Annex Table 1.5.

2. Demographics of leaseholders

The demographic characteristics of leaseholders are described below; information about other demographic and economic characteristics is available in the English Housing Survey live table FT2232. Apart from household type, the demographic characteristics below are based on the Household Reference Person (or HRP).

Household type

Leaseholders were largely accounted for by three household types. Overall, half (50%) of leaseholders were one person households, 26% were couples without children at home and 13% were couples with dependent children, Annex Table 1.6.

Leasehold household types

Leaseholders living in flats were more likely to be one person households (61%) than those living in houses or bungalows (31%). Leaseholders living in houses were more likely than those in flats to be couples with dependent children (21% in houses, 8% in flats) or lone parents with dependent children (7% in houses, 2% in flats).

Marital status

Among leaseholders as a whole, the most common marital status was single (45%), followed by married, including civil partnerships (31%), and divorced (13%) or widowed (9%).

There was some variation by dwelling type. Leaseholders living in flats were more likely than leaseholders in houses to be single (53% in flats, 32% in houses) and less likely to be married (22% in flats compared with 45% in houses).  

Religion

The majority of leaseholders had no religion (47%) or were Christian (43%).

Leaseholders living in flats were more likely to have no religion than those living in houses (52% in flats, 40% in houses). Leaseholders living in houses were more likely than those in flats to be Christian (49% in houses, 39% in flats) or Muslim (8% in houses, 2% in flats).

Sexual orientation

Overall, the majority of household reference persons were heterosexual (92%). The proportion of HRPs who classed themselves as heterosexual was lower for leaseholders living in flats (90%) than those living in houses (96%).

3. Dwelling characteristics 

Dwelling age and height

Leaseholder dwellings were split into three categories based on dwelling type and height: houses or bungalows, low-rise flats, and high-rise flats. High rise is defined as six or more storeys. Three categories of dwelling age were also used: pre-1945, 1945 to 2012 and post-2012. Of the 1.9 million owner occupied leasehold dwellings, 1.1 million were low rise flats, 675,000 were houses and 122,000 were high rise flats, Annex Table 1.7.

Dwelling age varied across the whole age range for leasehold houses and low-rise flats. Around half (50%) of leasehold houses were built between 1945 and 2012, with a further 35% built before 1945. Houses were more likely to be built before 1945 (35%) than low-rise flats (23%).

By contrast, leasehold high-rise flats were most likely to have been recently built. Around one third (35%) of leasehold high-rise flats were constructed post-2012, higher than for houses (15%) and low-rise flats (12%).

The majority, around two-thirds (65%) of low-rise flats were built between 1945 and 2012.

Age of leasehold properties by dwelling type

4. Leaseholder complaints

This chapter provides an overview of complaints made by leasehold owner occupiers toward the freehold owner of their property or their managing agent. It starts by identifying who the freehold owners of leasehold flats were and whether the freeholder had carried out the work recommended on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC – see glossary for more detail).

It then moves on to discuss the complaints process for leaseholders. Firstly, looking at households that considered making a complaint and follows them through the decisions they made - whether they made a complaint, how happy they were with the response if so and, if they were unhappy, whether they escalated their complaint. Reasons for why some households did not make a complaint are also examined.

Freehold owners of leasehold flats

Overall, 14% of the freeholds of leasehold flats were owned by a private individual, 20% by a company owned by other leaseholders, 30% by some other kind of company, 15% by a housing association, 15% by a local authority and 7% by a charity or charitable trust, the church commissioners or some other kind of organisation, Annex Table 2.1.

Freehold owners of flats

The types of freehold owners varied by region. Nearly a quarter (24%) of the freeholds of leasehold flats in London were owned by the local authority, a greater proportion than in the rest of England (8%). Meanwhile, a smaller proportion of the freeholds of leasehold flats in London were owned by a private individual (9%) or by a charity or charitable trust, the church commissioners or some other kind of organisation (3%) than in the rest of England (18% and 9% respectively).

Among leaseholders who had repairs or upgrades recommended following their EPC, the majority (78%) of leaseholders said their freeholder had not done any of the recommended work, Annex Table 2.2.

Complaints

The majority (76%) of leasehold households had not considered making a complaint to their managing agent, freeholder or both in the last 12 months. Nearly a quarter (24%) of leaseholders considered making a complaint, representing 435,000 households, Annex Table 2.3.

A greater proportion (34%) of leaseholders living in flats considered complaining to their managing agent or freeholder, compared to those living in houses (7%).

Proportion of leaseholders who considered making a complaint

Among those who considered making a complaint, 119,000 households (27%) decided not to. Similar proportions complained to their freeholder (38%) as complained to their management company (39%), Annex Table 2.4.

Leaseholders who chose to complain were asked what they had complained about. Most (61%) complained about repairs. Smaller proportions said they complained for other reasons (25%) or about administration (17%), antisocial behaviour (15%), the behaviour of the management company (12%), the quality of the home (9%), their neighbours (8%) or the behaviour of the freeholder (8%), Annex Table 2.5.

What leaseholder complaints were about by proportion

Leaseholders who chose to complain were also asked how they made their complaint. The majority (70%) of leaseholders complained by letter or email. Smaller proportions complained over the phone (39%), in person (15%) or by asking the management company to speak to the freeholder (4%), Annex Table 2.6.

Two-thirds (67%) of leaseholders who had complained were not happy with the response they received. A fifth (21%) were happy with the entire response, while 13% were happy with some of the responses to their complaint, Annex Table 2.7.

Leaseholders who were not happy with the response to their complaint, or who were only happy with some of the response, were asked if they had escalated their complaint. The majority (78%) of leaseholders who were not wholly satisfied with their complaint did not escalate it further to any of the organisations or people listed, Annex Table 2.8.

Smaller proportions escalated their complaint to a local councillor (13%), their local council’s Environmental Health Officer (10%), their local council’s Environmental Health Department (8%), their MP (6%) or the Housing Ombudsman Service (5%).

Leaseholders who chose not to complain were asked why they had decided not to. Similar proportions of leaseholders said they had not complained because it would be too much hassle or take too much time (43%) as those who did not complain for another reason (44%). Smaller proportions said they did not complain because they did not want to cause problems with their freeholder or management company (13%) or because they did not think their problem was important enough (7%). Just over a quarter of leaseholders who decided not to complain (27%) did so because they did not think anything would be done, Annex Table 2.9.

Technical notes

For technical information regarding caveats in this report, please see the technical note.

For a detailed glossary of terms please see the glossary.