Commonhold was first proposed by an independent working group in 1987. However, it took fifteen years and a succession of consultations and draft bills before it was formally introduced as an alternative to the traditional leasehold/ freehold models of property ownership, by Part I of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (“the 2002 Act”).

This year marks a further 15 years since the 2002 Act came into force and with recent figures suggesting that fewer than 20 commonholds have been created, it is clear that the initial scepticism of stakeholders across the property industry about the benefits of the commonhold model has never really subsided.

Nevertheless, amid a flurry of negative media coverage, there have been calls for significant reform of the existing leasehold system and as a result commonhold is firmly back on the political agenda.

Following a call for evidence in February 2018, the Law Commission published a consultation, “Reinvigorating commonhold: the alternative to leasehold ownership”, which closed on 10th March 2019. The consultation included numerous proposals to address the well-documented shortcomings of the existing statutory framework for commonhold.

Although there are various other barriers to the success of the commonhold model (including the inconsistent attitude of mortgage lenders, a lack of consumer and sector-wide awareness of commonhold, existing financial incentives for developers to use leasehold and general inertia among property professionals), the recent backlash against the perceived ills of the leasehold system (particularly escalating ground rents, a convoluted and overly complex enfranchisement regime and delays in the conveyancing process), may mean that the time has finally come for commonhold to emerge as the pre-eminent model for ownership of properties with shared services and common parts.