According to research by AA Legal Services, many young home buyers struggle to get to grips with the basic language of purchasing a property, with 2 per cent of 18-24 year-olds believing a freehold property could only be brought by a freemason.
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Overall, around 20 per cent of those questioned across all age ranges did not know the difference between the two.
James Molloy, head of AA Legal Services, commented: “Our research suggests that many home buyers are so desperate to get onto the property ladder that they may be over-looking vitally important basic legal principals. For years, the legal community has not helped much in terms of engaging the public on legal aspects of home buying. But the public need to understand legal issues in plain English, so that they can make informed home buying decisions and feel in control.”
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While 61 per cent of Londoners knew what a leasehold property was, only 23 per cent of those in the North West and 44 per cent in Scotland did.
Mike Fitzgerald, sales director at Brentchase Financial Services, said: “The knowledge of FTBs is abysmally low. We should be educating people in schools because they are currently at the mercy of the market.”
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