A further step towards leasehold reform was taken last week.

Jane Poole-Wilson MLC introduced the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill for its first reading in the Legislative Council.

’It introduces the ability for long leaseholders of residential flats to apply to collectively acquire management rights over the block of flats their leasehold property is in,’ she explained.

There is already a process in Manx law to enable leaseholders to apply to the Rent and Rating Appeal Commissioners for a management order if they meet certain conditions. But leaseholders have to prove fault on the part of the freeholder, landlord or management agent - amounting to a breach of an obligation under a lease.

’This current provision has proved a very high threshold,’ said Mrs Poole-Wilson.

’By contrast in the UK there is no requirement to prove fault. Instead, leaseholders there are able to attain management rights over their property provided they meet certain eligibility criteria.

’That is what this bill seeks to introduce for leaseholders in the Isle of Man.’

The bill’s current process will be retained under the name ’general management order’ but introduces a new process for a ’specific management order’.

The specific management order replaces the requirement to prove fault with a requirement to meet eligibility criteria, which will be based on equivalent UK law.

Eligibility will include that two thirds of the flats must be occupied by tenants who qualify under current rules, while the premises must be more than 50% residential.

’This safeguard exists in the UK too and is designed to ensure that the right to manage does not inadvertently lead to residential leaseholders taking management control over property that is predominantly commercial,’ said Mrs Poole-Wilson.

The leaseholders must also form a right-to-manage company that meets requirements, including the company is limited by guarantee and membership comprises qualifying tenants occupying at least half of the flats in the property.

The measures were ’designed to ensure that leaseholders have a right to participate in the management process and that members of the company - which would include the landlord or freeholder - have an equal voting right’.

If all criteria are met, including relevant notification procedures, then a specific management order must be granted.

Mrs Poole-Wilson said the bill dealt with only one aspect of leasehold reform and there was much else to do. ’However this bill represents very much a start and tackles a single aspect of reform,’ she said.

The bill, which was drawn up and taken through the House of Keys by Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey), will face closer examination in later stages of the scrutiny process of Legislative Council.