Guide
With a leasehold flat you own the space, but not the building or the ground under it. The years left on the lease matter more than almost anything else about the flat.
Buying a leasehold flat gets you the right to live there for a fixed number of years. The bricks and the land belong to the freeholder. That right is the lease, and the number of years left on it can matter more than the kitchen or the postcode.
A lease starts long, often 99, 125 or 999 years, and counts down. While it's comfortably above 90 years, few people give it a thought. Below 80, it becomes the biggest single factor in what the flat is worth and how easily it sells.
The reason is marriage value. Once a lease drops under 80 years, extending it gets a lot more expensive, because the law hands the freeholder a share of the value the extension adds. An extension after that point can cost thousands more than it would have a year earlier.
Under about 70 years, plenty of lenders won't offer a mortgage at all, so when you come to sell, only cash buyers can buy. That drags the price down and can leave you stuck.
Leasehold is being overhauled. Recent law makes extensions cheaper, and there is a longer-term move to end leasehold for new flats. Those changes haven't fully arrived, so price the flat on the lease it has today.