Commonhold

Section 1 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 defines the concept precisely: 'Land is commonhold land if— (a) the freehold estate in the land is registered as a freehold estate in commonhold land, (b) the land is specified in the articles of association of a commonhold association as the land in relation to which the association is to exercise functions, and (c) a commonhold community statement makes provision for rights and duties of the commonhold association and unit-holders (whether or not the statement has come into force).' Three things therefore have to be in place together: registration of the freehold as commonhold land, the land's inclusion in the governing articles of a commonhold association, and a commonhold community statement setting out rights and duties.

The Act ties the whole scheme together by reference to the association that runs it: 'In this Part a reference to a commonhold is a reference to land in relation to which a commonhold association exercises functions.' The common parts of the development are not owned by individual unit-holders but by the association itself, since 'Sections 7 and 9 make provision for the vesting in the commonhold association of the fee simple in possession in the common parts of a commonhold' — the structural feature that distinguishes commonhold from a conventional leasehold flat scheme, where the freehold of the building and its common parts is typically held by a separate landlord.