Leasehold term remaining, 2023 to 2024: Factsheet
This factsheet explores the length of time or term remaining on the lease for households living in leasehold properties in England.
Applies to England
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The data in this report are official statistics in development, to reflect the new approach used to combine EHS data with HM Land Registry leasehold data, and to give users an opportunity to provide feedback on the information. If you have any questions or feedback in relation to the information contained within this fact sheet, please contact ehs@communities.gov.uk.
There are two main forms of property ownership in England, leasehold and freehold. In freehold ownership, the property owner owns the property and the land it stands on indefinitely. In leasehold ownership only the property is owned, not the land it is built on, and only for a fixed period of time. This period of time is referred to as the lease term or lease length. At the end of this period the ownership of the property reverts to the freeholder.
The time remaining on the lease has implications for the value of the property, the ability of the leaseholder to sell the property and the willingness of mortgage providers to lend against the property. Typically, properties with shorter leases are worth less than the equivalent property with a longer lease. Leaseholders can usually extend the lease, although this may involve a payment to the freeholder.
MHCLG produces an annual estimate of the number of leasehold properties across all tenures in England, see the Leasehold dwelling estimate, along with semi-regular reports which use data from English Housing Survey to provide a snapshot of the characteristics of owner-occupied leasehold households.
This is the first time we have produced a report which combines English Housing Survey household data with information on leasehold properties and lease terms from HM Land Registry’s LEASES dataset. Further details on the source of the data described in this report and how it compares to other leasehold reports produced by MHCLG can be found in the technical annex published alongside this factsheet.
This factsheet explores how the term remaining varies by dwelling types and tenure, household characteristics, and household satisfaction with tenure.