Cottage - Lease hold

[The Birdfish]

Hi All

 

I am looking for some of thoughts on lease hold cottage properties. I am interested in a cottage on where there it is a lease hold ownership. It says lease good until 2032 but it can gets newed ever 5 years??? The property is on an island in Parry Sound.

Just looking for advice/opinions on this. Is is a good thing, risky etc??

 

Thanks in advance

[grt1]

you got to have a lot of faith in the people you lease the land from. Up here in the Kenora area, several people from Winnipeg leased land and built cottages on reserve property and had long term leases, these worked well for a number of years and then the band council changed and they gave the leaseholders a few months to either move the cottages or walk away from them because they arbitrarily decided to cancel the leases even though years remained on them.

 

Do your research on the location and property holders before you spend big

[bigugli]

Arbitrary service fee increases are the other trap on lease properties. Road usage fees went from $500 to $5000 when the agreements came due for renewal.

[smitter]

It can be great and it can also be dodgy. There are a bunch of lease hold camps north of town here that are in real trouble with there lease holders. Camps that have been in the family for generations, spent all kinds of money on building and renovating their camps and now they are basically getting kicked off the land.

 

A deed of ownership is the only thing that's certain.

[Dutch]

It seems like cheap waterfront property, but there are potential major pitfalls.

 

A person I know had a long-term lease paying $2,000 a year, renewal period came up and the rental was hiked to over $7,000. This was to force out the tentant for the benefit of a native relative that like the lot and wanted to build a year-round home. Needless to say over 40 years of history and memories went down the drain.

 

I have also heard the stories of garbage pick-up, road fees and police services going up with no recourse for the owner - they have to pay or get out or don't get access to the cottage.

 

I also read about a case in BC where the natives blocked access and asked for cottages to be removed. As I remember it, some of the cottagers were insensed and burnt the cottages down and blamed it on the natives. It got ugly.

[Billy Bob]

OK, what's the advantage to leasing holding ? ? ?

 

That's what you have to weigh in on.

 

Bob

[bigugli]

OK, what's the advantage to leasing holding ? ? ?

 

That's what you have to weigh in on.

 

Bob

On that note it provides a property at a price that is far cheaper than buying land. It can allow the use of mobile units/ trailer homes, if the site allows non- permanent structures. For those with limited means, leasehold makes home/cottage ownership more within reach. As long as the property owner is decent, ownerships do not change, etc...

Edited April 1, 2010 by bigugli

[Cast-Away]

Sauble beach has many cottages on leased land and there have been numerous occasions where the owners have not been allowed even on the roads to their cottages because "land owners" are protesting various local issues.

 

One time nobody was allowed on Parry Island because the liquor store refused to open on a Sunday! Just kidding on this part of course.

[SlowPoke]

Sauble beach has many cottages on leased land and there have been numerous occasions where the owners have not been allowed even on the roads to their cottages because "land owners" are protesting various local issues.

 

 

My inlaws have been on leased land in Sauble since 1992 and have had a great experience there. With that said, I don't think I would do it.

[TDunn]

It can be great and it can also be dodgy. There are a bunch of lease hold camps north of town here that are in real trouble with there lease holders. Camps that have been in the family for generations, spent all kinds of money on building and renovating their camps and now they are basically getting kicked off the land.

 

A deed of ownership is the only thing that's certain.

 

 

Yep! I have a few friends with camps up the 38 road and the lease was 3x higher after the first year all this nonsense went on up there.

Sad too see, one of the camps has been in the family for over 40 years and I was told it will be burnt before they give it up to the group who bought the townships off the ACR. They had mentioned everyone else on the lake had intensions of burning instead of of just walking away also....Either way, it is a brutal situation and I feel for them....

Personally I would stay away from leases....

 

TDunn

[skeeter]

there is a lot easier way.

buy a trailer in a resort.

if you need to leave for any reason , hook it up and go.

[Abraxus]

Yup! There is an area of Vancouver, located out by UBC, which has a ton of beautiful homes built on land leased from the Musquem Native Band. About 7 or 8 years ago, the natives jacked the lease rents on the land as each lease expired. The homes that were built there by non native folks in many cases were upper class. The natives increased the rates by an unacceptable and unrealistic amount, which in turn forced many home owners(whom are not land owners)out. The home owners on the leased land really got screwed. Perhaps this is just a case of the past re writing itself with the shoe on the other foot, who knows and so be it if in fact this was the case. The point is, these leases are rarely worth anything good and unless you want to risk losing something you have worked hard to build, maintain and have become attached to, I would says avoid land leases at all costs!

 

Here is a couple of articles on the Musquem land lease situation.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/1999/01/12/musqueam990112.html

 

http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg01831.html

 

It will give you a little insight on how badly some of these things go. B.C see's a lot of these situations and many, if not most non natives have learned their lessons by this point in time. I highly doubt any of them would ever see benefit coming from a land leases ever again. B.C. has seen a lot of greif on deals like this. There is much to be said about where money goes and how it rarely gets accounted for out there. In most cases, the money seldom finds its way to where it was intended to go, but thats a discussion best suited for alternative forums then this one.

 

My advice is simple, unless you want to get yourself embroiled in a mess of future legal crap, these are somee of the common issues you should make yourself of aware of before making a hasty decision on something that looks like a great deal.

 

Ab

Edited April 1, 2010 by Abraxus

[Jds63]

I also considered the lease type cottage property a few years back, because of the price. I was looking at cottages in Harcourt Park. After my own investigation, I decided to wait and keep looking for 100% my own property. 2 years ago I found one and got a sweet deal. At least I know its all mine.

 

Now i just need to win the lottery to build on it.

[Big Cliff]

Invest your money in something that is and will be yours. In fact, realestate is one of the best investments you can make. Water front is probably the best of all, they just aren't making any more of it! If you can't afford to buy right now, consider renting a cottage for the summer, that way you have the full use of it, no taxes, no maintence, no worries. When you figure that my taxes are $4000.00 a year for this place, $2000.00 a month to rent a cottage for June, July, Aug. every year might not be a bad alternative.

[TC1OZ]

I enjoy how the natives keep the cottages off parry island, if they didn't I'm sure I'd have cottages on both sides of the island..

 

 

I don't think there is a single bonus to leasing something; why pretend to own something you can't afford.