Re: Not always joking, it seems

In article <fpiltd$4e$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Keith F.
Lynch) wrote:

> Colette Reap <colette@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > The actual percentage of home owner****p in the UK is about 70%.
> 
> I thought instead of land owner****p they mostly had 99-year 
> leases.

That depends.  Flats are usually leasehold, but houses are freehold.  I
own the land my house stands on, but when I lived in a flat, I had a 99
year lease on the land.

The actual land rent wasn't high - my memory says it was about £40 p.a.
20 years ago, and I don't recall it changing for the entire 15 years I
lived there.  However, the reason why flats are usually leasehold is
because there is someone or thing that owns the communal parts of the
block.  In my case, the owners had appointed a property company to
administer this, and this company did communal repairs, paid the
caretaker's wages, ran the heating system, etc.  For this, I had to pay
a service charge each year, which was considerably more than the rent.