§ Lord Campbell of Allowayasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are proposing to take to implement the Law Commission's report on the Law of Positive and Restrictive Covenants (Law Commission No. 127).
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)Following the publication of the Law Commission's report and the generally favourable response to it, I asked the Commission to undertake a preliminary study of condominium schemes in other parts of the world.
The time has now come to take this forward as an integrated piece of reform. I have therefore asked for the Law Commission's assistance in setting up a working group of officials, headed by a Law Commissioner, to put forward a scheme to regulate relations between the owners of separate properties which lie in close proximity to each other and are interdependent.
The group will produce detailed proposals for an integrated, technically effective and simple scheme which will meet the problems raised by combined ownership of land and would be suitable for adoption in blocks of flats, blocks of commercial property, and shared residential estates. The scheme would be expected to define the rights and obligations of unit owners and of any management body, so as to ensure that degree of co-operation necessary in cases of combined ownership.
The group will carry out a running programme of consultation with interested groups, so drawing on the best of outside expertise. The group should aim to recommend a scheme by the end of July 1987.