New industry council launched to kick-start commonhold revolution
Experts, campaigners and trade associations are being brought together to advise and promote commonhold, Housing Secretary has revealed.
The government has launched a Commonhold Council of leading industry figures which will advise on and help promote this kind of home ownership and property management.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick says the initiative is part of the government’s attempts to usher in the most significant reforms to property law in England for 40 years.
The new council is made up of experts in the field of leasehold from various arms of the property industry including Kate Faulkner of the Home Buying and Selling Group, Sebastian O’Kelly of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, Katie Kendrick of the National Leasehold Campaign and Mairead Carroll of RICS.
Other organisations represented include Barratt Developments, the Law Commission, Nationwide Building Society, Law Society, the British Property Federation and the Home Builders Federation.
It will be chaired by the Conservative housing minister Lord Greenhalgh and promote the benefit of commonhold, which was introduced decades ago but has had patch take-up within the mainstream property sector.
Greater control
Jenrick (pictured) says: “The new Commonhold Council launched today will – together with leasehold groups and industry experts – pave the way for homeowners in England to access the benefits that come with greater control over your home.”
Professor Nick Hopkins (pictured, below), Commissioner for Property Law at the Law Commission says: “The Commonhold Council will help to reinvigorate commonhold, complementing our recommendations for a reformed legal framework.
“I am delighted to be able to support the Council’s work, which will pave the way for commonhold to be used widely, ensuring homeowners will be able to call their homes their own.”
The initiative follows recommendations made by the Law Commission to simplify the commonhold system and expand its use for both new homes and existing leasehold buildings. The government says it will respond to these recommendations in due course.
