According to a report in The Guardian, which uses information from a Freedom of Information Request submitted by Martin Keegan, the Commonhold Council hasn’t met for over a year with the last meeting taking place on the 6 April 2022.
The Commonhold Council was created in 2021 to advice the government on the “implementation of a reformed commonhold regime and to bring forward solutions to prepare homeowners and the market for the widespread take up of commonhold for new supply of flats”.
The FOI request shows that since the council was founded in 2021 there have been six meetings, with them usually taking place every two to three months or so.
There are 11 members in total, not including the technical support group, including UK Finance’s Charles Roe, Paul Broadhead of the Building Societies Association, David O’Leary of the Home Builders Federation and Kate Faulkner of the Home Buying and Selling Group.
It is chaired by Building Safety Minister Lord Greenhalgh.
Too many ministers, not enough meetings
The Guardian report suggests that one of the reasons for the delayed meetings has been rapidly changing governments, with three prime minsters and six housing ministers in the past year or so.
Rental reform, especially leasehold, has come under scrutiny in the past few months as rumours circulate at what will be on the much-anticipated Renters’ Reform Bill.
Reports have suggested that the government has backtracked on plans to abolish leasehold, with Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove saying in January that the system needed change.
The housing minister Lee Rowley said the government would bring forward a ban on newly-built homes, and the current level of houses in England with leasehold currently stands at 1.4 per cent.
Reports have suggested that other changes due to be included in the Bill include cap on ground rents, giving more powers to tenants to select their own property management companies and a ban on building owners forcing leaseholders to pay legal costs incurred during disputes.
