HIP-free ways the Government could improve the house buying process - No 1

Defective leases are a major cause of delay. The Government and its predecessor have done a lot to help. We now have, by statute:

• A right to extend leases;
• A right to join with other leaseholders and buy the freehold;
• A right to take over the management of a building;
• A right to apply for variations to leases;
• Various other rights and remedies.

But with the notable exception of the third of these (taking over the management of a building) all of these require a fair amount of legal work and/or surveyors' time, and are little use to someone who has a dodgy lease and wants to sell it now.

A simple improvement would be to impose compulsory and retrospective standard lease terms which would prevail over vague or poorly drafted clauses in leases, or where their terms were out of date. For instance

1. Covenants with the freeholder by leaseholders should be enforceable by other leaseholders within the same building so long as they are relevant to the repair, maintenance or insurance of any part of the building.
2. Insurance obligations should be to insure against all normal comprehensive risks in the full value of the property insured.
3. Depending on the number of units and the nature of the original arrangements for the building, standard provisions should regulate the repair and insurance arrangements for:

• Self-contained maisonettes;
• Converted houses with some common parts
• Purpose built blocks.

We have similar legislation which imposes standard terms in relation to the sale of goods, so why not the management of property? It's far more important.