Freehold (law)

A freehold, in common law jurisdictions such as England and Wales, Australia,[1] Canada, Ireland, and twenty states in the United States, is the common mode of ownership of real property, or land,[a] and all immovable structures attached to such land.

It is in contrast to a leasehold, in which the property reverts to the owner of the land after the lease period expires or otherwise lawfully terminates.[3] For an estate to be a freehold, it must possess two qualities: immobility (property must be land or some interest issuing out of or annexed to land) and ownership of it must be forever ("of an indeterminate duration"). If the time of ownership can be fixed and determined, it cannot be a freehold. It is "An estate in land held in fee simple, fee tail or for term of life."[4]

The default position subset is the perpetual freehold, which is "an estate given to a grantee for life, and then successively to the grantee's heirs for life."[4]

  1. ^ "Freehold Land". Australian Trade Commission. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  2. ^ "FAQs About Escheat". Crown Estate. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. ^ Roberts, Chris (2006). Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme. Waterville, Maine: Thorndike Press. ISBN 978-0-7862-8517-4.
  4. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A. (1999). Black's Law Dictionary (7th ed.). St. Paul Minnesota: West Group. p. 675. ISBN 0-314-22864-0. -deluxe.


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