Commonhold

Commonhold is a form of freehold estate, introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002), which took effect from 27 September 2004.

Commonhold was introduced to address some of the key problems associated with leasehold property, in particular to combine the security of freehold ownership with the management potential of positive covenants which could be made to apply to each owner of an interdependent property. Unlike freehold ownership, commonhold provides a straightforward legal mechanism for making the burden of positive covenants (such as an obligation to pay towards maintenance and services) bind successive owners (for guidance on positive covenants and freehold land, see Practice Note: Positive covenants—binding successors in title).

A commonhold consists of separate commonhold units and common parts. The owners of the units are called unit-holders. A commonhold unit need not contain all or any part of a building. The common parts are shared facilities. In a shared building, the common parts may include facilities such as the roof, stairs and landings. On an estate, they might include common access roads or car parking. The common parts are owned and managed