Michael O'Connor and Lauren Fraser write for Property Week on the impact of the Building Safety Act on residential property management

The Building Safety Act (BSA) has radically altered the landscape of residential property management in buildings over 18m.

Since its introduction, those responsible for these buildings have been navigating their way through a new and uncertain environment, facing delays, increased costs and potentially criminal sanctions for non-compliance, which can challenge even the most experienced property professionals.

To make things more complicated, the government is bringing in reforms that seek to give greater control of residential buildings to leaseholders, through the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act (LFRA) and the recently announced draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill. So, what will be the impact of an increase in non-professional property owners in the sector, who will have to deal with these complexities?

Michael O'Connor, Partner in our Construction, Engineering & Projects team, and Lauren Fraser, Senior Associate in our Real Estate Disputes team, explore these issues in an article for Property Week.

The explain that the "next stage for leasehold reform is to promote commonhold as the default tenure for property ownership" and that, in a white paper published in March, "the government announced that it would be adopting major reforms to reinvigorate commonhold".

They go on to explore the broad scope of commonhold and the potential for "unexpected consequences for homeowners, with the combination of the government’s policy of providing greater control and ownership rights in the context of increased regulation in the sector."

Read the full article in Property Week here.