Compare the total cost of owning a leasehold property, including ground rent and service charges, against an equivalent freehold.
The current ground rent shown in your lease
Compound annual rate — a clause that doubles rent every 10 years is roughly 7.2% a year
Building insurance, maintenance and management fees
Typically tracks inflation — 3% is a reasonable default
How long you plan to own the property
A one-off enfranchisement or lease extension quote, if you have one
Total leasehold cost
£50,781
Ground rent and service charge over 20 years
This result is an estimate only and does not constitute financial advice.
Extra cost vs freehold
£50,781
What staying leasehold costs on top of the freehold option
This result is an estimate only and does not constitute financial advice.
Note: This is an estimate based on the growth rates you enter. Real ground rent clauses and service charge increases vary by lease — check your specific lease terms and recent service charge accounts before relying on these figures.
On the day you buy, a leasehold flat and a freehold house can look similarly priced. The gap opens up over the years that follow: leaseholders keep paying ground rent and a service charge on top of their mortgage, and both of those costs typically rise every year, sometimes sharply.
Ground rent is the smaller line item at first, but it's the one most likely to surprise you. Many leases written in the last two decades include clauses that double the ground rent every 10 or 25 years. A rent that starts at a few hundred pounds can compound into a four-figure annual cost well within the lease term, and lenders have become increasingly cautious about mortgaging flats with these clauses.
The service charge tends to be the bigger cost overall, covering buildings insurance, lift and communal area maintenance, and a management company's fees. It usually rises roughly in line with inflation, though a major works bill — a new roof or an external wall cladding remediation — can cause a one-off spike this calculator won't capture.
If you're weighing up whether to extend your lease now, comparing the one-off premium against the ground rent and any lease-related costs you'd otherwise keep paying can make the decision much clearer — enter a quote in the calculator above to see how the two stack up. It's also worth checking your mortgage affordability if a shorter remaining lease term is affecting what lenders will offer.
A freeholder owns the property and the land it stands on outright, with no time limit and no ground rent. A leaseholder owns the right to occupy the property for a fixed number of years, set out in the lease, and typically pays ground rent and a service charge to the freeholder for maintaining shared parts of the building.
Leases sold between roughly 2005 and 2020 sometimes included clauses that double the ground rent every 10 or 25 years. Because the increase compounds, a modest starting ground rent can grow into a large annual cost within a couple of decades, and can also make a flat harder to mortgage or sell.
Yes — most leaseholders who've owned the property for two years can extend their lease statutorily, which usually reduces ground rent to a nominal amount (often £0) and adds years back onto the lease. Recent leasehold reform has aimed to make this cheaper and simpler, but there's still typically a premium to pay, which this calculator lets you enter and compare.
Mostly, yes. Leasehold flats almost always have a service charge covering buildings insurance, communal repairs and management fees, since those areas are shared. Freehold houses don't usually have one, though some new-build freehold estates charge a similar 'estate rentcharge' for maintaining shared roads or green spaces.
Get a quote for extending your lease or buying the freehold, and see exactly what it would save you long-term.