Editing Commonhold (section)

==Origin of the word==
‘Commonhold’ is a term found only in the law of England and Wales. It was adopted in the Report: '''''Commonhold: Freehold Flat and Freehold Ownership of other Interdependent Buildings: Report of a Working Group''''' (1982) Cm 179, the working group generally called the "Aldridge Committee". This was an ad hoc committee chaired by [[Law Commission (England and Wales)|Law Commissioner]] Trevor Aldridge, which was appointed in May 1986 to consider the problems raised by combined ownership of land. It reported in July 1987.<ref name=propterm>{{cite journal |last1= Roberts|first1= Nicholas |last2= |first2= |date=2002 |title= Commonhold: A new property term – but no property in a term! |url= |journal= The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer |volume=66 |issue=July/Aug |publisher=Sweet & Maxwell |pages=341-348 |doi= |access-date=|ISSN=0010-8200}}</ref>
 
Although the term was adopted by the Committee to describe the system it proposed, which drew heavily on the [[strata title]] system then in use in Australia, it had in fact been coined in 1978 by Sir [[Brandon Rhys-Williams]], Conservative MP for [[Kensington South (UK Parliament constituency)|South Kensington]] from 1968 until 1974 and for [[Kensington (UK Parliament constituency)|Kensington]] from 1974 until his death in May 1988. He had in 1978 introduced his “Co-ownership of Flats Bill” as a [[Ten Minute Rule]] Bill. This would have enabled leaseholders of flats to purchase the freehold of their block at a fair market value; this would then be held by a Commonhold Company in which the participating leaseholders would be shareholders. He produced similar Bills in five succeeding sessions of Parliament, from 1978/79 to 1983/84.<ref name=propterm/>
“Commonhold” was later adopted by the Aldridge Committee to describe their strata-title system, though the system envisaged by Rhys-Williams is virtually identical to the situation – often encountered in practice – where the flats in a block remain leasehold but the leaseholders own their freehold through the medium of a Residents’ Management Company, of which they are members. The Aldridge Committee claimed to have been unaware of its previous use by Rhys-Williams.<ref name="hansard">{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1987-10-28/debates/3d3bd074-4111-4161-96ff-68fcd8f98c7c/Commonhold|title=Commonhold|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=1987-10-28 |access-date=2025-02-22}}</ref>