It's quite common (in the UK) to have properties that haev a leasehold but not freehold.
Generally speaking leases are cheap and long (100 years?) and get renewed decades before the lease term ends. It does reduce the property value a little.
Generally speaking leases are cheap and long (100 years?) and get renewed decades before the lease term ends. It does reduce the property value a little.
The terms of the leases typically require that the lessee return the land to its original condition when the lease expires, which means demolishing or moving the house and replanting appropriate vegetation, but I've read that usually the tribe will accept the lessee leaving and turning the house over to the tribe.
If you are ever buying a house in Washington and see something that seems too good to be true, like a beachfront house at a low price, look carefully for something about a land lease. The practice of leasing land from tribes and building houses on it goes back a long way, and some of the early leases are expiring in a few years.
[1] http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/06/13/lease-holders-now-on-...
When you see an especially cheap apartment that has nothing obviously wrong with it when you look at the pictures, it's one of these three things:
1) The building doesn't own the land it's built on.
2) The current owner is renting it to a rent-controlled tenant who refuses to leave until they die.
3) Maintenance fees are $3000 a month for a studio due to severe mismanagement or something.