Commonhold is a system of property ownership in England and Wales. It involves the indefinite freehold tenure of part of a multi-occupancy building (typically a flat) with shared ownership of and responsibility for common areas and services. It has features similar to the strata title system in Australia, and condominium systems in the United States. Following a consultation by the Law Commission,[1] it was introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 as an alternative to leasehold, and was the first new type of legal estate to be introduced in English law since 1925.[2]
An important difference between commonholds and leaseholds (leases) is that a commonhold is indefinite in time, unlike a leasehold which is only granted for a fixed period of time (the term). As a consequence, a commonhold title is not a depreciating asset, whereas leaseholds lose value as the end of their term (term of years or in extraneous documents sometimes existence) approaches.[3]
In the years since the 2002 Act became law, only a handful of commonholds have been registered, whilst hundreds of thousands of long leases have been granted during the same period. As of 3 June 2009, there were 12 commonhold residential developments comprising 97 units (homes) in England and one commonhold residential development comprising 30 units (homes) in Wales.[4] By 2020, this number had not risen significantly—with under 20 developments using commonhold.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ van der Merwe, Cornie; Smith, Peter (2005). "Commonhold—A Critical Appraisal". In Cooke, Elizabeth (ed.). Modern Studies in Property Law Volume 3. Hart. ISBN 9781841135588.
- ^ Neville, Paul (3 October 2005). "Commonhold property ownership explained". BBC News Online.
- ^ Loveday, Mark (15 May 2009). "Brief encounter: commonhold property". The Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2009.
- ^ House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Michael Wills Written Questions, 9 June 2009 col. 792W Commonhold
- ^ "Commonhold". Law Commission. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
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