Re: Not always joking, it seems

In article <memo.20080221120407.2468C@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 prd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Paul Dormer) wrote:

> 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.

You get that pattern in the U.S. too,although I think the legal 
structure is different. You own the land, but a condition of purchase 
was member****p in, and some constraint by, the homeowners' association.

-- 
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
 Published by Baen, in bookstores now