Whatever happened to commonhold?

It will soon be four years since commonhold became available for new property developments—commercial, residential or mixed use. Commonhold can also be used for a leasehold or a freehold conversion, provided that all the owners and others with interest in the premises unanimously agree. However, flat developments continue to be marketed and sold and managed on the traditional freehold/leasehold basis with all the potential legal and administrative difficulties that this can entail.

This system should be contrasted with commonhold which, since 27 September 2004, has been available for new development and for conversions. It confers freehold ownership for units within a commonhold coupled with membership of a commonhold association which owns and manages the common parts. A particularly attractive feature of commonhold, apart from conferring freehold ownership, is the fact that the documentation for a commonhold has been prescribed by a statutory instrument with allowance being made to include local rules suitable for the particular development. For example, each commonhold development must