© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
This afternoon in oral questions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Matthew Pennycook is due to announce proposals to reinvigorate commonhold, making it the default tenure. The minister is expected to announce that new leasehold flats will be banned as the government takes steps to honour its manifesto commitment to ensure commonhold becomes the default tenure and he will also announce that the government will publish a commonhold white paper.
The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) has worked with government on leasehold reform. Mark Chick, director of ALEP and a Partner at Bishop & Sewell LLP comments on today’s announcement:
ALEP welcomes the publication of the proposed white paper in relation to commonhold and we note the recognition of the challenges that will need to be overcome to make it work properly for all types of development
Whilst the announcement signals the proposed moves to amend commonhold (as previously announced by government), there is a great deal of work to be done to ensure that commonhold is made ‘fit for purpose’.
Today’s announcement signals a proposal that once commonhold has been introduced that the sale of new leasehold flats will be banned. Such a position will of course only be possible if and when all of the necessary reforms to the commonhold system have taken place. We would urge government to be realistic in managing the expectation of the public as to when this is likely to be as, in our estimation, this is likely to take some significant time.
In addition, if there is a proposal to prevent the sale of leasehold flats in the future, we would urge caution around this, as there are (and will remain) many existing leasehold properties. In our view both the government and the wider media need to be careful not to talk down existing leasehold structures to the detriment of existing flat owners.
ALEP has advised the government on leasehold reform previously and remains available to work with government in relation to the proposed changes.
In the meantime we welcome today’s progress. We look forward to receiving further details of the proposed Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill, consultation and discussions around this - which is where a fuller debate around these issues can take place for the benefit of the property sector as a whole.