Can a consumerist model of law reform solve the problems of leasehold tenure?

Abstract

Despite more than 50 years of reform, leasehold as a tenure remains in crisis and the English and Welsh governments have been forced to intervene yet again. The current programme of reform has been described as ‘seminal’, and builds upon extensive consultation. What is claimed to be transformative is its consumer focus. In this chapter we interrogate the potential of a consumerist model of leasehold reform in the context of the persistent failure of legislative interventions. We start by demonstrating the need for a shift in the legal framing of leasehold, recalling long-term problems with the tenure as well as recent leasehold ‘scandals’, and emphasising the contested nature of leasehold reform. In the second part of the chapter, we expand upon the case for reform by providing granular evidence of the contemporary experience of leaseholders drawing on qualitative data collected by the authors during research into the sale and use of leasehold in Wales commissioned by the Welsh Government. Our analysis is framed by the consumer-oriented requirements of informed choice, transparency, and fairness for leasehold purchasers. In the third part we suggest we are sceptical as to whether a consumerist framing can build a sufficient, and a sufficiently powerful consensus to make meaningful inroads on the status-quo of property rights. Our scepticism is informed by the paradox at the heart of leasehold reform and draws on the history of consumer protections in property relationships and successful challenges to leaseholder rights in the courts. In the concluding part of the chapter, we draw our thoughts together on the prospects of the current reform project succeeding in the light of the history of leasehold law failure and then, putting our scepticism about consumerism to one side, we speculate on the unpredictable consequences of a consumer rights driven paradigm of leasehold law reform.

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