This feature has been written by David Hallas, co-owner of David Hallas Keller Williams.

If you have read anything about property in London recently, you will know leasehold has taken a battering. Ground rents that double every decade. Service charges nobody can predict. Extortionate fees just to ask permission to change your own windows.

And the leasehold reform that was promised has arrived slowly and partly, leaving many flat owners stuck between the old world and the new.

It is real, and buyers are right to be cautious. In some parts of London, stories of £5,000 service charges on modest flats and buildings wrapped up in offshore structures have made people walk away from entire developments.

Some sellers have discovered their flat is worth considerably less than their neighbour's freehold house purely because of the tenure.

But here is what I am seeing on the ground in Teddington, and it is a more hopeful picture.

The local market rewards realistic pricing

Well presented flats in Teddington, Hampton Wick and along the Bushy Park side are still selling, and selling well, when they are priced honestly from day one.

What has changed is not the appetite, it is the tolerance for overpricing. Buyers now arrive armed with data. If the price reflects the lease length, the service charge and what else has actually sold nearby, they engage.

If it does not, they scroll past, and every week a property sits at the wrong price, it quietly becomes yesterday's news.

Teddington flats carry less of the leasehold poison

Much of the local stock is converted period housing and small purpose-built blocks with reasonable leases, modest charges and management that is not run for profit by an absentee investor.

That is very different to the big new-build developments further into London, where the worst stories come from. When we value a flat here, we look at the lease, the charges and the freeholder, because a well-run lease with 100+ years unexpired behaves almost like a freehold in the market's eyes.

What buyers should do

Ask for the lease and service charge accounts before you fall in love with the kitchen. Check the years remaining, under 80 starts to affect mortgageability and value. And get proper advice before offering on anything with a ground rent that escalates.

What sellers should do

Get the lease paperwork in order before marketing. A flat with a clean lease, clear accounts and an honest price will still attract competition in Teddington. I have watched correctly priced local flats this autumn move to sold boards while similar ones linger for months. The difference is rarely the flat. It is the price and the preparation.

The wider London market may be wobbling, but Teddington keeps proving the same old truth: a good home, presented well and priced for the market as it actually is, will find its buyer.

Thinking of selling this winter? I would be happy to give you an honest view, including on leasehold, with no charge and no pressure.

Call me, David Hallas at Keller Williams, on 07550 016100. And a reminder for sellers already planning ahead: my 0.7% + VAT introductory fee is available for anyone registering an interest by the end of December 2026.

You can also find out more via my website here.

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