Читать книгу Property Entrepreneur - Wong Vincent - Страница 9

The above is an extremely abbreviated account of how property works and scholarly historians would probably baulk at its simplicity, but my objective is to get you to understand what I call the MYTH OF OWNERSHIP. Whether we are talking about the land that you “own” – on which you still pay a tax to Her Majesty's Government for the right to live on – or the house you live in – which you probably have a sizeable mortgage on – you do not physically have total ownership of your land.

What you do have, to an extent, is CONTROL. But even then you are limited. If you want to add an extension to your property, or turn your front garden into a driveway, you must ask permission from the local government. If you live in a listed property, you may have further restrictions on what you can do inside. If there is a seventeenth-century oak staircase in your Grade II listed fourteenth-century manor house, chances are you can't just rip it out and replace it with a modern glass and steel version!

Many people who are in rented accommodation long for their own place specifically because they want more control. They imagine how good it will feel when they can paint the living room to their taste, or install a new power shower, without always having to go to their landlord to ask permission. And buying rather than renting your property does give you a huge increase in control. You can more or less decorate as you like, and as long as you keep paying your mortgage you can stay in your property for as long as you like without the threat of eviction … you basically have more rights. But it's all still relative.

Remember this concept of CONTROL rather than OWNERSHIP as it will really help you to understand some of the concepts and “buying” strategies in future chapters.