Freehold (law)
In common law jurisdictions like England and Wales, Australia, Canada, and Ireland, a freehold is the common ownership of real property, or land, 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 has expired. For an estate to be a freehold, it must possess two qualities: immobility and ownership of it must be 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."
A subset is a perpetual freehold, which is "an estate given to a grantee for life, and then successively to the grantee's heirs for life."
In England and Wales, before the Law of Property Act 1925, a freehold estate transferable to the owner's "heirs and assigns" was a fee simple estate. A fee tail estate describes when transfer was limited to lineal descendants of the first person to whom the estate was given. There were also freehold estates not of inheritance, such as an estate for life.
