Understanding your council leasehold

Last updated: 11 February 2026

Next review: 11 February 2027

How leaseholds work

When you buy your council home, you buy the leasehold interest in the property. We keep the freehold interest.

This leasehold is a legal agreement between you and us. Once the lease period ends, the rights over the land and building return to the council.

What you own as a council leaseholder

  • the walls, ceilings and floors inside your home
  • cisterns, tanks, drains, pipes, wires and ducts serving your home only
  • doors and door frames inside your home
  • the surfaces of walls that are inside your home
  • gardens and pathways which lead to your home only and are inside the legal boundaries of your home.