Suggested response for community-led housing groups on the
consultation paper – submissions due by 10 March
The Law Commission has issued a formal consultation paper on commonhold to
which you will no doubt respond "what is commonhold?".
Commonhold was introduced in 2002 as an alternative to leasehold
and was expected to be the next big thing. It allowed for the
creation of individual freehold units, with common parts owned
communally. It offers several advantages over leasehold, but the
original legislation contained a number of perceived problems that
meant it was never taken up in practice.
As a result, only a handful of commonhold properties have been
created since 2002 and the Law Commission is looking to address the
issues, or assumed issues, that prevented the largescale take-up
originally envisaged. This is being done in conjunction with the
work on the proposed ban on new leaseholds and the simplification
of enfranchisement. It seems the government is
