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NLJ this week: Repair leasehold, don’t replace it

20 June 2025
Issue: 8121 / Categories: Legal News , Property , Profession , Leasehold , Housing , Landlord&tenant
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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

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Partner appointed as head of residential conveyancing for England

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

Specialist firm enhances corporate healthcare practice with partner appointment

NEWS
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School and the Frenkel Topping Group—AKA The insider—crowns Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP as his case of 2025 in his latest column for NLJ. The High Court’s decision—that non-authorised employees cannot conduct litigation, even under supervision—has sent shockwaves through the profession. Regan calls it the year’s defining moment for civil practitioners and reproduces a ‘cut-out-and-keep’ summary of key rulings from Mr Justice Sheldon
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