Banning Unfair Leasehold Practices

Shortly before Christmas the government issued its response to the consultation on unfair practices in the residential leasehold market.  The consultation was opened amid concerns that some developers were using leasehold structures unnecessarily with the aim of extracting high rents from their tenants.

Leasehold properties have their place in English residential property law.  Once a piece of land is sold freehold it can become more difficult (although not impossible) to enforce positive covenants – i.e. a requirement to take positive action such as maintenance and repair work against anyone owning neighbouring land.  In the case of blocks of flats in particular, it is vital that tenants can rely on the landlord's covenants to look after the block and, for everyone's benefit, the landlord should be able to enforce other covenants against the tenant.