Ground rent and chief rent guides
Plain-English guidance on ground rent, chief rents and rentcharges. Whether you pay one, collect one, or are thinking of buying or selling, each guide answers one question clearly. General information, not legal advice.
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For leaseholders & owners
- What is ground rent? What it is, how much it costs, and how it differs from a service charge.
- How much is ground rent? Typical figures, what counts as a risky rent, and how it affects value.
- What is a peppercorn ground rent? A nominal, effectively nil rent. What it means and why leases use one.
- Is ground rent being abolished? Where reform stands for new leases and what it means for existing ones.
- The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 What the 2022 Act changed, who it covers, and what it means for you.
- Do I have to pay ground rent? When it's genuinely payable, whether a demand is valid, and what to do.
- Buying a flat with ground rent over £250? The 'AST trap', what the £250 rule means, and how the law has changed.
- What is a rentcharge or chief rent? The freehold charge that isn't ground rent. Who owns it, and redeeming it.
- What is an estate rentcharge? The charge on freehold estates, the lender worry, and buying a house with one.
- Who owns my chief rent? How to trace the rentcharge owner, and what to do if you can't.
- How to redeem a rentcharge Pay a one-off sum to end it for good. The process and the price.
- What is a head lease? The lease chain explained: freehold, head lease and underlease, and who pays whom.
For freeholders collecting rent
- What is a Section 166 demand? The prescribed notice you must serve before ground rent is payable.
- My leaseholders aren't paying. What can I do? A valid demand, reminders, the six-year limit, and where forfeiture stands.
- Do I need a solicitor to collect ground rent? No. What you can do yourself, and the few moments a solicitor is worth it.
- Managing a small portfolio cheaply Why the big agents don't fit, and how to run the annual cycle properly.
- Can I increase the ground rent? It depends entirely on the lease. How to tell which kind you have.
- Section 166 vs chief rent (rentcharge) Two different legal regimes that look the same. How to tell them apart.
Buying & selling rents
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