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20 June 2025
Issue: 8121 / Categories: Legal News , Property , Profession , Leasehold , Housing , Landlord&tenant
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NLJ this week: Repair leasehold, don’t replace it

223025
The government plans to replace leasehold with commonhold, recently consulting on the ‘best approach to banning new leasehold flats’. In this week’s NLJ, Mark Chick, senior partner at Bishop & Sewell, argues the case for reform rather than an outright ban

Chick considers the challenges that accompany commonhold, such as management of mixed-use blocks. He highlights some of the advantages of leasehold—flexibility, predictability and protection of leaseholders from any freeholder debts.

He shares the results of a recent Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners survey, in which ‘specific benefits of leasehold were identified, such as the flexibility that it provides to the market and the effective management of multi-occupancy buildings. The longevity of the existing system was also cited as evidence that it is the best available option and would be extremely complicated to replace.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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