In January the Government published its Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill: the first stage in its fulfilment of a manifesto promise to abolish leasehold.

As the government has already stated its intention that all new properties will be sold as commonhold (where they would previously have been leasehold) and considering the fact that, despite opposition from other parties, the government has a substantial majority with which to push this pledge through, the change is expected to take effect this Parliament.

However, another key government pledge is that of significantly increasing housing delivery (alongside the development of energy and infrastructure). The government has committed to 1.5m homes being built within the same time frame, in what Keir Starmer himself has referred to an ‘almighty challenge’: housebuilding levels are currently at a record low.

The government’s ambitious housing target has not been exceeded since 1968, despite the best intentions of successive governments. And if it is to be met, this can only be achieved by new housing delivered at greater densities, particularly in urban areas. In towns and cities where land is scarce and infrastructure is already in place, flats are often the only viable option to meet local need; this is true too of land outside major conurbations which is often constrained by land use designations, such as the Green Belt.

So the question of whether new developments, comprising a large proportion of commonhold units, go ahead will depend in part on developers’ attitudes towards commonhold. It will also require there to be a viable and working system of commonhold. The reality is that this change cannot be made overnight.