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Property Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the leasehold and freehold terms you are most likely to come across.

Leasehold has more than its share of jargon, and a good deal of it is genuinely old — terms of art carried forward from statutes and precedents written a century or more ago. None of it is beyond explanation.

This glossary covers 156 of the terms clients most often ask us about: the legal vocabulary of leases, titles and enfranchisement, together with the valuation language that appears in a surveyor’s report and the abbreviations that turn up in correspondence without explanation.

It is written for non-lawyers. Where a term has a precise statutory meaning we have said so, and where the definition differs between one statutory right and another we have flagged it, because that is exactly where confusion tends to arise.

How to use it. Terms are listed alphabetically. Where an entry refers to a right or a procedure, our client guides cover the subject in full — lease extensions, collective enfranchisement, deeds of variation, licences to alter, missing landlords and the rest are each dealt with separately.

Definitions are general and are not a substitute for advice on your own lease, which may use a word in its own particular way.

A

Absent landlord
A landlord who cannot be found or identified after proper enquiry. Where a landlord is absent, a leaseholder can still extend a lease or buy the freehold by applying to the court for a vesting order.
Absolute covenant
A lease obligation expressed as a flat prohibition, with no provision for the landlord’s consent. The landlord is not obliged to permit the act at all and may refuse for any reason, or for none.
Absolute title
The best class of registered title, and by far the most common. It means HM Land Registry is satisfied as to the owner’s right to the property, subject only to entries on the register.
Administration charge
A charge payable by a leaseholder for something other than services — typically for consents, notices, information packs or dealing with a breach. It is payable only so far as reasonable, and its reasonableness can be challenged at the Tribunal.
Adverse possession
A claim to ownership of land based on long occupation without the owner’s permission. For registered land the rules are strict and the registered owner is notified of any application.
Affidavit
A written statement of evidence sworn before a solicitor or other authorised person, for use in court proceedings. Largely replaced in civil cases by witness statements, but still required in some contexts.
Affirmation
A formal declaration made instead of an oath, of identical legal effect, available to anybody who prefers not to swear.
Airspace
The space above a building. It usually belongs to the freeholder rather than the top-floor leaseholder, which is why a loft or roof-terrace scheme normally requires a grant of land rather than merely consent.
ALEP
The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners: a membership body for solicitors, surveyors and other professionals specialising in leasehold enfranchisement.
Alienation
Dealing with a lease by assigning, subletting, charging or parting with possession. Covenants controlling these are alienation covenants, and consent to them is governed by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988.
Apportionment
The division of a sum between parties or periods — for example, splitting service charge or ground rent between a seller and a buyer at completion, or dividing service charge between the flats in a building.
Assignment
The transfer of an existing lease to a new leaseholder. What is transferred is the lease itself, not a new one, so the buyer takes it on its existing terms.
Assured tenancy
A form of residential tenancy under the Housing Act 1988. An assured tenant is not a qualifying tenant for the purposes of the leasehold enfranchisement legislation.

B

Beneficial interest
An interest in the value of property, as distinct from the legal title recorded at HM Land Registry. Somebody may have a beneficial interest without appearing on the register.
Bona vacantia
Ownerless property that passes to the Crown. The most common example in leasehold work is a freehold held by a company that has been struck off the register, in which case the freehold vests in the Crown.
Building Safety Act 2022
Legislation introduced after the Grenfell Tower fire, creating a regime for higher-risk buildings, duties on accountable persons, and protections for qualifying leaseholders against remediation costs.
Buildings insurance
Insurance of the structure of a building. In a block of flats the lease almost always obliges the landlord to insure and to recover the premium through the service charge.

C

Capitalisation rate
The yield used in an enfranchisement valuation to convert the ground rent the landlord will lose into a capital sum. A lower rate produces a higher value for the income.
Certificate of compliance
A certificate from a landlord or management company confirming that the requirements of a lease governing a sale have been met. Where the title carries a restriction, HM Land Registry will not register a buyer without it.
Charge
A mortgage or other security over property. The lender is the chargee and the borrower the chargor, and a registered charge appears on the register of title.
Chattels
Movable items that are not part of the land — furniture, curtains, free-standing appliances. Distinguished from fixtures, which form part of the property.
Collective enfranchisement
The statutory right of the leaseholders of a qualifying block of flats to buy the freehold together, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. See our collective enfranchisement guide.
Commissioner for oaths
A person authorised to administer oaths and take affidavits and statutory declarations. Every solicitor holding a practising certificate is one — see certification and oaths.
Commonhold
An alternative to leasehold ownership introduced in 2002, under which a flat is owned freehold and the common parts are owned by an association of the unit holders. Very little used to date, though the Government intends to make it the default for new flats.
Competent landlord
In a lease extension claim, the landlord whose interest is long enough to grant the new lease. Where there are intermediate interests, the competent landlord conducts the claim on behalf of the others.
Completion
The point at which a transaction is finished: the money is paid, the deeds are dated and ownership passes.
Counter-notice
A landlord’s formal response to a statutory claim. It admits or disputes the claim and sets out which of the leaseholder’s proposals are accepted and what is proposed instead.
Covenant
A promise in a deed. Leases contain covenants by the leaseholder and by the landlord, and whether a covenant is positive or restrictive affects how it can be enforced.

D

Deed
A formal document that must be signed, witnessed and expressed to be a deed. Transfers of land, leases and most property documents take effect as deeds.
Deed of covenant
A short deed by which an incoming leaseholder promises the landlord or management company directly that they will observe the lease covenants. Most leases require one on every sale.
Deed of postponement
A deed under which the holder of an existing charge or interest agrees to rank behind a new one.
Deed of rectification
A deed correcting a document that failed to record what the parties actually agreed. It is not a means of improving a bargain that was simply a poor one.
Deed of substituted security
A deed transferring a lender’s charge from a surrendered lease to the new lease granted in its place. Required on an informal lease extension, but not on a statutory one, where the transfer happens automatically.
Deed of variation
A deed altering the terms of an existing lease. The lease continues; only the provisions identified in the deed change. See deeds of variation and rectification.
Deferment rate
The rate at which the freeholder’s future right to recover the property is discounted to a present value. Following the Sportelli decision, 5% is commonly applied to flats and 4.75% to houses, though the rate can be argued.
Demise
The extent of what is let to the leaseholder. Establishing the demise determines who repairs and insures each part of a building, and is the starting point for almost every leasehold question.
Dilapidations
A claim for breach of repairing obligations, usually at the end of a lease. Far more common in commercial than residential leasehold.
Disbursement
A payment a solicitor makes on a client’s behalf, such as a Land Registry fee, a search fee or a court fee, as distinct from the solicitor’s own charges.
Doubling ground rent
A ground rent that doubles at fixed intervals. Most lenders now decline to lend on leases containing one, which frequently makes a flat unsaleable until the lease is varied or extended.

E

Easement
A right over somebody else’s land, such as a right of way, a right of drainage or a right of support. Easements can be granted expressly or acquired over time.
Enfranchisement
The acquisition by leaseholders of a superior interest in their property — either the freehold, or a new and longer lease.
Engrossment
The final version of a deed, prepared for signature.
Escheat
The termination of a freehold estate, on which the land reverts to the Crown. Distinct from bona vacantia, where an existing freehold passes to the Crown because its owner has ceased to exist.
Estate rentcharge
A periodic sum charged on a freehold house on a managed estate, securing payment towards the upkeep of shared roads and open spaces.
Exchange of contracts
The point at which a sale becomes legally binding and the completion date is fixed.
Exempt landlord
A landlord outside the scope of the right of first refusal, including local authorities and most housing associations.

F

Fee simple
The freehold estate: ownership of land without a time limit.
First registration
The process of registering land at HM Land Registry for the first time, where the title has previously been unregistered.
Fixtures
Items attached to a property so as to form part of it, and which therefore pass with it on a sale.
Forfeiture
The termination of a lease by the landlord for breach of covenant. A long residential lease cannot be forfeited unless the leaseholder admits the breach or a court or tribunal has determined that it occurred.
Form A restriction
An entry on the register recording that co-owners hold the property on trust for themselves as tenants in common rather than as joint tenants.
FRAEW
A Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls: an assessment of the fire risk presented by a building’s external wall construction.
Freehold
Ownership of land outright and without a time limit. In a block of flats the freeholder owns the building and the flats are held on leases granted out of it.
Freehold reversion
The freeholder’s interest in a property that is subject to a lease: the ground rent income, plus the right to recover the property when the lease ends.
FTT
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), which determines premiums, service charge disputes and many other leasehold matters. In Wales the equivalent body is the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

G

Graph of relativity
A published graph used by valuers to estimate what a flat is worth with its existing lease as a percentage of its value with a very long lease.
Ground rent
A periodic sum payable by a leaseholder to the landlord under the lease. Ground rent on most new long residential leases has been restricted to a peppercorn since June 2022.
Guarantor
A person who promises to meet another’s obligations if that person does not. Company directors are frequently asked to guarantee company borrowing personally.

H

Head lease
A lease granted by the freeholder out of which the individual flat leases are granted. The head lessee is an intermediate landlord.
Higher-risk building
For building safety purposes, a building of at least 18 metres or seven storeys containing two or more residential units, subject to a stricter regulatory regime.
HM Land Registry
The government body that maintains the register of title to land in England and Wales.
Hope value
Value attributable to the prospect of a future event — for example, the possibility that non-participating leaseholders will extend their leases in due course.

I

ID1 and ID2
HM Land Registry forms providing evidence of identity where a person dealing with registered land is not represented by a conveyancer. Form ID1 is for an individual and ID2 for a company, and both must be completed in person.
Improvement
Work that increases the value or usefulness of a property to the leaseholder. Where a lease requires consent for improvements, the law implies that consent must not be unreasonably withheld.
Indemnity
A promise to make good another party’s loss. Licences and deeds of covenant commonly require the leaseholder to indemnify the landlord against claims arising from their works or breaches.
Indemnity insurance
A policy covering the risk arising from a defect in title or a missing consent, frequently used where obtaining the consent itself is impossible or disproportionate. Approaching the landlord will usually destroy the ability to insure.
Independent legal advice
Advice given to a guarantor, occupier or other third party by a solicitor who is not acting on the transaction, so that the person understands what they are signing before they sign it. Often abbreviated to ILA — see independent legal advice.
Initial notice
The notice under section 13 of the 1993 Act by which leaseholders begin a collective enfranchisement claim.
Intermediate landlord
A landlord holding an interest between the freeholder and the leaseholder — typically a head lessee. Also called a mesne landlord.

J

Joint and several liability
Liability under which each of several people is responsible for the whole of an obligation, so that a creditor may pursue any one of them for the full amount.
Joint tenants
Co-owners who hold property without distinct shares, so that on the death of one the interest passes automatically to the survivors. Rarely appropriate where a share of a freehold is tied to a flat.

L

Land Registry restriction
An entry on the register preventing a disposition from being registered unless a stated condition is met — for example, the production of a certificate of compliance.
Lease
A grant of the right to occupy property for a defined period, on defined terms. A long residential lease is usually granted for 99, 125, 250 or 999 years.
Leaseback
A lease granted back to the former freeholder on a collective enfranchisement, typically of flats let on secure tenancies or of non-participating units. A leaseback reduces the price payable.
Lease extension
The grant of a longer lease. A statutory extension under the 1993 Act adds 90 years at a peppercorn rent; an informal extension is whatever the landlord agrees. See lease extensions.
Lessee and lessor
The leaseholder and the landlord respectively.
Licence
Permission to do something that would otherwise breach the lease. A licence does not alter the lease; it permits a departure from it.
Licence to alter
A deed by which a landlord consents to alterations, setting out what is permitted and on what conditions. See licences to alter.
Licence to assign
A landlord’s consent to the sale of a lease where the lease requires it. Consent must be dealt with within a reasonable time, and a landlord who delays unreasonably is liable in damages.
Long lease
For most enfranchisement purposes, a lease originally granted for a term of more than 21 years. What matters is the term originally granted, not the term remaining.
LPE1
The Leasehold Property Enquiries form completed by a landlord, management company or managing agent on the sale of a flat. Its companion, LPE2, is completed by the seller.

M

Managing agent
A firm appointed to manage a building day to day on behalf of the landlord or a management company. The agent’s appointment does not transfer the landlord’s legal obligations.
Marriage value
The increase in the combined value of the freehold and leasehold interests when they are merged. Where the unexpired term is below 80 years, half of it is payable to the landlord; above 80 years it is disregarded.
Mortgagee and mortgagor
The lender and the borrower respectively.
Mutual enforcement covenant
A landlord’s promise to enforce the covenants in other leases in the building at a leaseholder’s request. Its absence is a common lender objection, because a leaseholder then has no route to a remedy against a neighbour.

N

Nominee purchaser
The person or, more usually, the company nominated by participating leaseholders to acquire the freehold in a collective enfranchisement.
Notary public
A separate legal profession whose certification is recognised internationally. Many overseas authorities require a notary rather than a solicitor.
Notice of assignment
Notice to the landlord that a lease has changed hands. Most leases require it to be given within a set period, with a fee.

O

Occupier’s consent
A document by which somebody living in a property but not a party to the mortgage agrees that their interest is postponed to the lender’s charge.
Official copy
An official copy of a register of title, title plan or filed document, issued by HM Land Registry and admissible in evidence.
Overriding interest
An interest that binds a buyer even though it does not appear on the register — for example, some short leases and rights of persons in actual occupation.

P

Participation agreement
The contract between leaseholders taking part in a collective enfranchisement, recording who is participating, how the price and costs are shared, and what happens if somebody withdraws.
Party wall
A wall shared between two properties. Works affecting one may require notice to the adjoining owner under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, separately from any landlord’s consent.
Peppercorn rent
A nominal rent of no real value, and in practice no rent at all. A statutory lease extension is granted at a peppercorn.
Personal representative
The executor or administrator of a deceased person’s estate, who may exercise the estate’s rights including a claim to extend a lease.
Possessory title
A lesser class of registered title, granted where documentary evidence of ownership is incomplete. It can usually be upgraded in time.
Premium
The capital sum paid for the grant of a lease or the acquisition of a freehold. In a statutory claim the premium is calculated by a statutory formula and determined by the Tribunal if not agreed.
Principal accountable person
The person or entity with primary responsibility for building safety in a higher-risk building — frequently the freehold company itself.
Priority
The order in which competing interests in land rank. A lender’s charge normally takes priority according to the date of its registration.
Purchase notice
A notice requiring a buyer who acquired a building without offering it to the leaseholders first to transfer it to them on the same terms and at the same price.

Q

Qualified covenant
A lease obligation expressed as a prohibition unless the landlord consents. Where the act is an improvement, the law implies that consent may not be unreasonably withheld.
Qualifying lease
For building safety purposes, a lease that attracts the statutory protections against remediation costs, broadly where the leaseholder occupied the flat as their main home on 14 February 2022 or held no more than three UK dwellings.
Qualifying tenant
A leaseholder who satisfies the statutory conditions for a particular right. The definition differs between the enfranchisement legislation and the right of first refusal, so it must be checked against the right being exercised.
Quiet enjoyment
The landlord’s covenant that the leaseholder may occupy the property without interruption by the landlord or those claiming under it.

R

Rectification
The correction of a document that does not reflect what the parties agreed, either by deed or, if necessary, by order of the court.
Relativity
The value of a flat with its existing lease expressed as a percentage of its value with a very long lease. It drives the marriage value calculation and is frequently the most contested figure in a claim.
Rentcharge
A periodic sum charged on freehold land, historically used in place of a service charge on managed estates.
Requisite majority
The proportion of leaseholders needed to exercise a collective right. For a right of first refusal it is qualifying tenants holding more than half the available votes, counted by reference to the flats let to qualifying tenants.
Requisition
A query raised by HM Land Registry on an application, or by a buyer’s solicitor on the title. An application with unanswered requisitions cannot complete.
Reserve fund
Money collected in advance through the service charge and held towards future major works. The lease must permit it, and it is held on statutory trust.
Reversion
The interest that remains when a lease has been granted out of it, and to which the property returns when the lease ends.
Reversionary lease
A lease granted now but taking effect in the future, typically on the expiry of an existing lease. It avoids a surrender and regrant, and therefore avoids moving an existing mortgage.
RICS
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the professional body for surveyors and valuers.
Right of first refusal
The right of leaseholders to be offered the freehold before it is sold to anybody else, under Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Failure to serve an offer notice is a criminal offence.
Right to manage
The statutory right of leaseholders in a qualifying building to take over its management without buying the freehold.

S

Schedule 6 and Schedule 13
The valuation provisions of the 1993 Act: Schedule 6 governs the price on a collective enfranchisement and Schedule 13 the premium on a lease extension.
Searches
Enquiries of public registers made on a purchase — typically local authority, drainage, environmental and any search specific to the area.
Section 5 notice
An offer notice under the right of first refusal, offering the freehold to the leaseholders. Which of sections 5A to 5E applies depends on how the landlord proposes to sell.
Section 13 notice
The initial notice beginning a collective enfranchisement claim.
Section 20 consultation
The statutory consultation a landlord must carry out before qualifying works or entering a long-term agreement. Failure to consult can limit recovery to a modest capped amount per leaseholder.
Section 42 notice
The notice by which a leaseholder claims a statutory lease extension. It fixes the valuation date and starts the statutory timetable.
Section 48 notice
Notice of an address in England or Wales at which notices may be served on the landlord. Until it is given, ground rent and service charges are not lawfully payable.
Section 146 notice
The notice a landlord must serve before forfeiting a lease for breach of covenant other than non-payment of rent.
Section 166 notice
A demand for ground rent in prescribed form. Ground rent under a long residential lease is not payable unless demanded in that way.
Section 168 determination
A determination that a breach of covenant has occurred, required before a landlord may forfeit a long residential lease unless the leaseholder admits the breach.
Self-contained building
For collective enfranchisement, a building or a vertically divided part of one that could be redeveloped independently. Horizontal division does not qualify.
Service charge
The leaseholder’s contribution to the cost of insuring, maintaining and managing the building. It is recoverable only so far as the lease permits and the costs are reasonably incurred.
Share of freehold
The arrangement under which a share in the company owning the freehold passes with the flat. The share and the flat should always move together.
Sinking fund
A fund built up towards the eventual replacement of major items, as distinct from a reserve fund for cyclical works. The terms are often used interchangeably.
Sportelli
The decision that established the generic deferment rates used in enfranchisement valuations — commonly 5% for flats and 4.75% for houses.
Stamp duty land tax
The tax payable on the purchase of land or on the grant of a lease for a premium.
Standard Valuation Method
The prescribed method of calculating enfranchisement premiums introduced by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. It is not yet in force, and the rates it will use are the subject of consultation.
Statutory declaration
A formal written statement of fact made before a solicitor. Making a false statutory declaration is a criminal offence.
Statutory trust
The trust on which service charge contributions are held. The money belongs to the leaseholders collectively and cannot be treated as the landlord’s own.
Surrender
The giving up of a lease to the landlord before the end of its term, so that the lease comes to an end.
Surrender and regrant
The surrender of an existing lease and the grant of a new one in its place. Any agreement extending the term of a lease has this effect as a matter of law, whatever the document is called.

T

Tenants in common
Co-owners holding distinct shares, which pass under a will or on intestacy rather than automatically to the survivors. The appropriate arrangement where a share of a freehold is tied to a flat.
Term of years
The leasehold estate: the right to hold land for a fixed period.
Title
Ownership of land, and the documents that evidence it. Registered titles carry a title number and are recorded at HM Land Registry.
Title plan
The plan attached to a registered title showing the general extent of the land. It shows general boundaries only and does not fix them precisely.
TR1
The HM Land Registry form used to transfer the whole of a registered title.
Tripartite lease
A lease with three parties — typically the freeholder, a management company and the leaseholder — each with their own covenants.
Two-year rule
The former requirement that a leaseholder had owned a flat for two years before claiming a lease extension. Abolished with effect from 31 January 2025.

U

Underlease
A lease granted out of another lease rather than out of the freehold. Also called a sublease.
Undertaking
A promise given by a solicitor, personally binding and enforceable. Undertakings for another party’s costs are commonly required before work begins on a consent or an informal extension.
Unexpired term
The period a lease still has to run. The two figures that matter most are 90 years, below which lenders and buyers become cautious, and 80 years, below which marriage value becomes payable.
Unregistered land
Land whose title has not yet been registered at HM Land Registry, and whose ownership is evidenced by title deeds.

V

Vacant possession
The condition in which a property must usually be handed over on completion: empty of people, possessions and rubbish.
Valuation date
The date at which a premium is assessed. On a lease extension it is the date the section 42 notice is served; in a missing landlord claim it is the date the court application is issued.
Variable administration charge
An administration charge that is not fixed by the lease. Its reasonableness can be challenged at the Tribunal.
Vesting order
A court order vesting a lease or freehold in a leaseholder or nominee purchaser where the landlord cannot be found, the court effectively signing on the landlord’s behalf. See missing landlords and vesting orders.

W

Waiver
The giving up of a right, whether expressly or by conduct. A landlord who accepts rent with knowledge of a breach may waive the right to forfeit for it.
Wayleave
A right permitting utility apparatus — cables, pipes or poles — to cross land.
Witness
A person who observes a signature and signs to confirm it. Some documents require an independent witness, and a few specifically a solicitor.

Y

Years’ purchase
A multiplier applied to an income stream to arrive at its capital value, being the reciprocal of the yield. Used in enfranchisement valuations to capitalise ground rent.
Yield
The annual return on a capital sum, expressed as a percentage. Lower yields produce higher capital values for the same income.

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General information only, reflecting the position in England and Wales as at 26 July 2026. These definitions are intended as plain-English explanations and are not legal advice: the meaning of a term in your own lease depends on that document.