In this writeup, we will discuss what is freehold ownership, what it involves and what to keep in mind when we are executing a freehold purchase.

When you get into ownership of a freehold property, you own both the home and the land on which it is built. The name comes from the fact that it is ‘free from hold’ of any entities besides the legal owner. So, the owner can enjoy the free ownership for perpetuity and can rebuilt on the land of course following the city by-laws and zoning guidelines.

The owner here for a freehold property is exclusively responsible for any updates or upkeeps needed in the house inside or exteriors.  For any changes to the structure the owner need to follow the local City bylaws and permits. As an owner you are the one who are liable to pay the property taxes on the unit. The garbage collection and snow clearing functions are performed by the City.

Generally Single Family Detached Homes, Semi-Detached homes and row houses or townhomes fall into the freehold category. If we dig deeper there are further classifications into the freehold category of dwellings and those are attributed to the styles of properties, it could be a 2-storey, 3-storey, split type or bungalow type etch.  When you get into a freehold ownership there are no further monthly payment obligations to make as your only recurring cost is to the municipality in form of property taxes which you incur.


Let us go through the advantages of owning a Freehold asset:

1) There is No Extra Fee – You pay only your mortgage and not any monthly maintenance, or any service charges on top of it.
2) You can exercise More Control – You can be sure that your monthly expenditure will not increase in the future with any extra fees, giving more control over your budget.
3) More Rights to enjoy – Freehold property also means that there are no controls in what you can do with your home: keeping pets, tenancy, building additions inside and outside curb appeal, etc.
4) There is higher Return on Investments – Due to a higher sense of ownership, they tend to show a better rate of growth over a given period.

In terms of disadvantages of a freehold property the only one is its affordability. Due to the inherent freedom of usage in the ownership title and no monthly maintenance; the freehold properties tend to be costlier than say a condo property in the same geographical area.

Wish you all the very best! Reach out to our dedicated team at Elixir for any queries you have in Real Estate and we will do our best to help.


Mudit Mehta
Broker of Record
ELIXIR REAL ESTATE INC.
Off: 416-816-6001 | [email protected]