Today, I’ll look at leasehold, a form of ownership you’ll encounter on Crown, municipal, university or First Nations land.

In a leasehold purchase, you buy the right to use a home for a fixed term (often 30 to 99 years) but you don’t own the land. That single difference shapes everything—price, financing, fees, resale, insurance and even how you plan your future.

With a leasehold, the landlord (the Crown, a city, a university trust or a First Nation) owns the land. You own the lease interest and, depending on the setup, the building or your unit’s interior space.

There are two common types:

• Leasehold strata—You own a strata leasehold interest in a condo or townhome and share common property through a strata corporation, just like conventional strata - except the land is leased. Be aware that the Strata Property Act probably does not apply on Indigenous land.

• Non-strata leasehold (site lease)—You hold a lease to a specific lot and own the house and improvements as defined by the lease.

In either case, your rights are defined by the lease agreement (and bylaws, if a strata). Key clauses cover term and expiry, renewal or extension options, ground rent and how it increases, assignment rules (resale), maintenance and repair responsibilities and use restrictions.

Cost of ownership line-by-line

Purchase price—Leaseholds usually list below comparable freehold because buyers price in a finite term and renewal........

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