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I was involved in lobbying the government over commonhold. The original driver was the perceived abuse by landlords in carrying out repairs to common parts and billing impecunious lessees for their share. Despite the Housing Act 1996 etc, it was recognised that many landlords were simply doing what the lease required them to. Commonhold was intended as the answer for the future, not the past: making the occupiers responsible for management etc. The original bill was 75% fretting about what would happen if the commonhold association became insolvent. Anecdotally, it seems commonhold did not take off in large part because lessees realised it was much easier to moan about a distant landlord than about their immediate neighbours when it came to repairs, non-payment etc.

Commonhold isn't the answer to the leasehold house problem. Tightening up on the legal right to acquire the freehold, perhaps at a set multiple of the ground rent (which could be capped, perhaps subject to RPI), could be.

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