> Who owns the flats then? The building owner (freeholder), who is normally also the superior landlord. > A lease of 99 years with rent I would assume easily

> Who owns the flats then? The building owner (freeholder), who is normally also the superior landlord. > A lease of 99 years with rent I would assume easily covers the outright cost of the flat. You pay annual ground rent, UK law means that this is pretty much capped to £250 per year outside of London, and £1000 per year in London. Most ground rents are below that (£30-£100 per year outside London, £200-£500 inside London). So for most leases the ground rent over the lease period doesn’t even come close to the premium (the amount paid the purchase the lease, or what most people would call the cost of the flat). If you do a statutory lease extension (which costs money), then the lease is extended to 999 years, and the ground rent drops to a peppercorn (another bit of crazy English law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppercorn_(legal) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppercorn_(legal) ).