The attraction for many investors on lease hold land is that the properties are cheaper to buy because you are not buying the land. You pay an annual lease cost to use the land which is tax deductable and can make your overall cashflow on the property look quite attractive. However the downside is that these lease costs are renewed at certain intervals. You have no control over what these increases may look like in the future. A couple of more recent examples in Auckland are around the Viaduct area where many of the lease costs have recently almost doubled. Also in Greenlane a similar thing has happened and many home owners are struggling to be able to afford the new annual lease costs.
Your lease may include an option to purchase at a later date, so look into that. If you were going to buy a leasehold property you would need to get the lease thoroughly checked by a lawyer..
Be sure to check how long the lease has to run, your lawyer should ideally have everything ironed out before anything is signed.
As for selling the land, im not sure on that one ... but I reckon if you sign the contract to lease the land for say 10 years, then legally you should have the lease for 10 years, if the owner of the land wanted to sell the land, then the lease would need to part of the sale untill such time that the lease expires, the new owner may not then renew the lease if they have other plans for the land. (or alternatively might ask to buy the lease back from you so he could commence his plans).
Again, imnot an expert, or even particularly knowledgeable on these matters, so take anything I say with a large pinch of salt ... be sure to get everything checked by a lawyer, ask a lot of questions, and read the small print carefully before ever signing anything.
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