Editing Condominium (section)

=== England and Wales ===

In [[England and Wales]], one of the equivalent legal structures of a condominium is [[commonhold]], a form of ownership introduced in September 2004. As of 3 June 2009, there were 12 commonhold residential developments comprising 97 units in England and one commonhold residential development, comprising 30 units, in Wales.<ref>[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]], {{UK Parliament |speaker=[[Michael Wills]] | date=9 June 2009 | place=Written Questions | url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2009-06-09c.278364.h |column=792W |title=Commonhold }}</ref> "Condominium" is not a term that is widely used in England and Wales. Commonhold is a creature of statute and comparatively rare, and condominiums are more likely to be found in the form of leaseholds because of long-standing legal differences between leasehold and freehold tenure.

By virtue of the landmark case of ''[[Tulk v Moxhay]]'', in English law only restrictive covenants can be enforced against freehold land. This means it is not possible to enforce a positive covenant on successive owners of freehold land, other than to maintain a boundary fence, without creating an elaborate trust. A positive covenant is, broadly, one that involves the expenditure of money to perform.<ref>{{cite web|last=Teacher |first=Law |url=https://www.lawteacher.net/cases/austerberry-corporation-of-oldham.php?vref=1 |title=Austerberry v Corporation of Oldham |website=LawTeacher.net |date=November 2013 |accessdate=9 May 2023 |location=Fujairah, UAE}}</ref>

This did not create a significant problem until the 1950s when flats (where ownership is divided horizontally) first began to appear on the market as more affordable, particularly for first-time buyers. Until then flats had been confined to short-term unsaleable tenancies, with varying degrees of statutory rent protection and security of tenure.

It was soon learned that freehold flats were an unsatisfactory form of ownership because it was not possible to impose essential maintenance requirements. As such, flats became virtually unmarketable because they were an unacceptable form of security to lenders. Thus solicitors, the principal property lawyers in England and Wales in those days, began to use leases instead, where such limitations did not apply.

Progress was haphazard and piecemeal, but over time things became more standard. Improvements became universal as institutional lenders refused to advance money on the security of flats unless certain basic provisions were included. This benefited owners whether or not they borrowed money since the purchase was invariably conducted through a solicitor or licensed [[conveyancer]] trained to reject leases failing to meet the necessary standards.

Despite these standards, the actual form of leasehold systems is variable. Highly favoured are arrangements where the leases are granted out of a freehold owned by a corporation, itself owned by individual leaseholders. This provides an opportunity for them to participate in the proper management of the block. Again, the quality of management is very variable.

The statute creating commonholds was motivated by a desire to eliminate some of the problems and perceived injustices, such as the commercial exploitation of lessees by freeholders as their leases began to have too little time left to satisfy lenders. Since most leasehold developments are undertaken by commercial entities, commonholds did not become widespread. There are, however, other statutes in place that give some degree of protection for leaseholders. It is, nevertheless, essential to consider proper legal advice whenever engaged in the purchase of a flat, for the requirements for a fully marketable flat remain complex.

The [[Law of Property Act 1925]], s.&nbsp;153, contains provisions for the "enlargement" of leases into freeholds, one of the effects of which is to preserve the enforceability of positive covenants contained in the lease against the resulting freehold. There are clear, but stringent, requirements. Artificial schemes using the provisions to create enforceable positive covenants in freehold blocks of flats were occasionally mooted but never gained currency.

On 21 July 2020 the UK Law Commission reported on the existing difficulties<ref>{{cite report |publisher=Law Commission |title=Reinvigorating commonhold: the alternative to leasehold ownership |url=https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/commonhold/ |date=21 July 2020}}</ref> and made proposals to improve the law and encourage the acceptance of commonhold as the preferred form of tenure.