First for any non-UK&#x27;ers who happen to be having trouble with the terminology used:<p>If you own the &quot;freehold&quot; on a property it means you own the building and the land<p>If you own &quot;leasehold&quot; you have a sort of long-term lease on the property for a fixed and agreed upon length of time (could be 50 years, could be 100 years).<p>On a slightly different but related note (i.e not necessarily foreign owned properties) the Private Eye article only shows the data for England, its actually a good deal worse in Scotland where huge chunks of the country are owned privately and indeed sometimes the owners are not even known. Take a look at the map in the link below for a bleak picture
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;uk-news&#x2F;2013&#x2F;aug&#x2F;10&#x2F;scotland-land-rights" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;uk-news&#x2F;2013&#x2F;aug&#x2F;10&#x2F;scotland-land...</a>