The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (c. 15) is an
act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
. It introduced
commonhold
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 ...
, a new way of owning land similar to the Australian
strata title
Strata title is a form of ownership and housing tenure devised for multi-level apartment blocks and horizontal subdivisions with shared areas. The word "strata" refers to apartments on different levels.
Strata title was first introduced in 19 ...
or the American
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...
, into
English and Welsh law. Part 1 deals with commonhold and part 2 deals with leasehold reform. Some supplementary material is covered in part 3.
Commonholds were introduced to deal with the perceived unfairness of the existing
leasehold
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a Lease, lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title (property), title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold right ...
system, and England and Wales being unique in not offering a legal option for ownership of common areas of shared buildings. It gives leaseholders the
right to manage their properties more actively, by taking control of some rights otherwise held by the freeholder. Commonhold ownership has not become popular, and in 2018 the
Law Commission
A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...
launched a consultation into ways to expand usage of commonhold estates.
See also
*
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a le ...
*
Leasehold Reform Act 1967
The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (c. 88) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which concerns English land law and compulsory purchase. A government bill, the law remains largely intact. It was passed by both Houses and had been tabled ...
*
Leasehold valuation tribunal
A leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) was a statutory tribunal in England which determined various types of landlord and tenant dispute involving residential property in the private sector. An LVT consisted of a panel of three; one with a backgro ...
References
External links
Records of Parliamentary debate relating to the Actfrom
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...
, at
theyworkforyou.com
English property law
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2002
Housing legislation in the United Kingdom
Condominium
{{UK-statute-stub