ABSTRACT

The relative merits of leasehold and commonhold from the point of view of property lawyers and property professionals have already been addressed by official bodies, interest groups and academics far better qualified than the writer. The relative merits of leasehold and commonhold from the point of view of a company lawyer have received less attention. This is the subject of this chapter. New forms of incorporation are rare - not as rare as a tenure spawning a sub-tenure - but rare all the same. A reduction both in creditors' remedies and annual disclosure was therefore central to the commonhold association brief. The legislation was also to offer a "high level" of constitutional standardisation to avoid the variety and inadequacy of the provisions currently governing leasehold flat management companies. From a company law point of view the most significant feature of the commonhold association is the absence of limited liability.