Common concern for new tenureThe draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill received a cautious welcome in the House of Lords last week despite concern that the mechanism to turn properties into commonholds may prove unworkable.Commonhold would be a new form of ownership for flat and house owners, where each unit owner would not only own their unit outright, but also enter into a 'commonhold association' with a responsibility to manage the common parts of the development.

The requirement that all residents have to agree in order to convert a property from leasehold to commonhold was criticised by several peers, including Baroness Hanham, who said it was 'the main stumbling block to success', as the possibility of identifying all absentee flat owners was 'improbable'.

The requirement that landlords have to become members of the residents' right-to-manage company was criticised by Lord Hodgson, as by the time the residents decided to form such a company, he argued, the landlord/tenant relationship would have entirely broken down, and there will be 'an inevitableconflict of interests'.

Clare Foinette, a partner at London law firm Rooks Rider, which is a member of the Leasehold Advisory Group, agreed with the criticisms.

'The 100% rule is one of the reasons commonhold is not going to be a workable system,' she said.

'For a group of four or five flats, it may be possible to get the agreement of 100% of the residents, but it will be far too difficult for larger buildings.' She echoed doubts about the inclusion of the landlord in the right-to-manage company, but added: 'As a single member of the company, the landlord really won't have that much power in the decision-making process.' Victoria MacCallum