When neighbours Ele Weeks-Bell and Maggie Coles were setting up their commonhold flats 15 years ago, they struggled to find a lawyer who could help them.
“We were trying to find solicitors that knew anything about commonhold and getting a blank every time,” said Weeks-Bell. “And most mortgage companies were just like, no one has ever done this before, so we’re not prepared to mortgage you, because it’s a huge risk.”
Their block of six flats in Bristol is one of only about 20 commonhold developments in England and Wales created since legislation was introduced in 2002, and the only self-built one, which made getting it off the ground particularly tricky.
Last month, the government announced plans to start abolishing the “unfair feudal” leasehold system and create a law meaning all new-build flats will automatically become commonhold.
It means buyers will own the freehold of their flat, and a commonhold association, managed by the owners, jointly owns and manages the shared areas.
Weeks-Bell and Coles live in a converted office block that once belonged to a scaffolding company. The whole site , which also includes a number of self-built houses, was going to be taken over by a commercial developer to build a typical housing estate, before a group of local residents banded together to take over the site.
The flat owners have regular meetings, which they take in turns to chair, to discuss the running and maintenance of the building. People take on different roles according to their strengths – some help with the paperwork and accounts, some help with building issues.
A few years ago a hole appeared in the communal wood-pellet boiler system used to heat the building. It would have cost £60,000 to replace it, but they managed to find a metal sculptor who was able to fix the hole at a fraction of the cost.
“That was a biggie, because if we’d have gone down the traditional route it would have been £60,000, and it would have been very difficult for us to find that sort of money,” said Coles. “A management company probably wouldn’t have the time to find the cheaper or most ecological way of doing something, or even care, to be honest.”
Two residents are paid to maintain the shared garden and the block has held numerous communal garden work days over the years, while the owners have shopped around for the best building insurance deals.
“I’m not sure any of us would trust a landlord or private management company to coordinate these works efficiently or to be cost-effective for the flat owners,” said Weeks-Bell.
“We all really do rub along together, it’s great. It’s a quirky old place, so you’re pretty much going to get like-minded people,” said Coles, who moved into the flat from Leicester to be nearer her son after her husband died.
“From the outset we just gelled,” said Weeks-Bell. “It’s very hands-on, everyone has to be involved all the time and all the decision-making.”
Although detailed plans have yet to be published, some lawyers have raised alarm over the lack of knowledge among lawyers, lenders and the general public about how commonhold works, decades after it was first introduced.
“The fundamental issue with it is that no one really, even within the legal profession, understands it,” said Annabel Dean, a partner in the residential property team at Farrer & Co. “It was all introduced in 2002 and it has not taken off since then. In my 20 years of practice, I’ve never had to deal with commonhold. And lenders don’t understand how it works either.”
Dean said work was already going on to “upskill” lenders and fill the knowledge gap before the law change, but it was going to take time for people to become “comfortable with it”.
Scott Goldstein, a partner in dispute resolution at Payne Hicks Beach, said while commonhold was an improvement on leasehold in many ways, it would bring its own set of problems.
“It’s certainly not going to be a panacea. You’re just changing your enemy. If you’re a leaseholder and your flat is being managed terribly, the person you’re against is the management company or the landlord. If it’s a commonhold, your enemy is going to be your neighbour,” he said. “I’m going to have different types of work to do. There are going to be different types of arguments.”
He added that commonhold gave flat owners a “lot more power”, but with that came “big decisions” that not everyone would be equipped with the knowledge, or the time, to make.
Those warnings of neighbourly disharmony brought on by shared decision-making do not seem to be borne out in some of the more established commonholds.
In the centre of Pickering, North Yorkshire, sits Spire View, one of the few other commonhold developments in the UK. It has 15 units, a mixture of houses and flats, around a two-storey courtyard with flower beds, a common room, guest room and swimming pool.
When Liz Worthy arrived four years ago, having previously had a smallholding, she had a hip problem and could not walk, so she needed somewhere easily accessible. Now recovered, she enjoys the community feel. “I wasn’t a communal person, but I love it here,” she said. “Everyone pitches in.”
Having initially been intended as an over-55s development, there are no longer any age restrictions, though she described it as “ideal” for older people. “It’s brilliant – but it needs the right people,” she said.
