27 Apr 2026
CIH response to consultation on moving to commonhold: banning leasehold for new flats
CIH understands and supports the government’s motives in banning the sale of new leasehold flats to support a move away from a leasehold model of homeownership to a more modern and democratic system for flats under commonhold.
However, the current housing development and resale market is complex, and we believe that more work needs to be done to consider the full implications of such a ban and the transition from leasehold to commonhold for new social rented homes and temporary accommodation. We believe that, given the prevalence and desirability of mixed tenure developments in England and Wales, it is essential that the commonhold system must not only accommodate a wide variety of building types and homeownership arrangements, but also rental and landlord arrangements.
We believe commonhold is a sensible way forward for small to medium, fully owner-occupied blocks of flats or converted houses. However, we have concerns about how it will operate in both higher-risk buildings (HRBs) and mixed tenure blocks – where there are rented properties for which landlords, both social and private, are responsible for ensuring their tenancies and homes meet legal and regulatory standards.
Social landlords must meet very clear regulatory and legal requirements for their homes as set out in the Consumer Standards which the Regulator of Social Housing oversees. We have already seen that having different freeholders and managing agents on mixed tenure estates and blocks makes it very difficult for social landlords to ensure and evidence compliance against those standards, as well as meeting resident expectations on service standards and affordability. The possibility of some of those properties being part of a commonhold association could make it even harder and much more complicated.
We welcome the fact that the government has proposed that, “Those building homes exclusively for rent, such as in Build to Rent blocks or social rent blocks, will not be captured by the ban.” However, this ignores the reality that for most new developments there is a planning requirement that a certain percentage of homes are built for social housing and still leaves social landlords looking to acquire flats – for social rent through s106 arrangements or for temporary accommodation – falling under these commonhold proposals.
Given that historically a significant proportion of new social rented homes came through s106 arrangements, and this government is committed to the “biggest boost to social and affordable housing for a generation” this is an issue that needs much more consideration before legislation is passed.
As work is going on separately to look at how to improve s106 arrangements, it would be useful to consider whether there are any technical changes to the published Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill that would further enable the affordable housing sector to use commonhold as part of those discussions.
The current proposals also leave councils who may wish to build new blocks of flats for rent with the potential problem of having to sell flats under commonhold arrangements in the future under the Right to Buy scheme. We therefore propose that all blocks of flats built by councils for the purpose of rent are exempt from the ban on leasehold and recommend that council owned new flats are exempt from the Right to Buy in perpetuity (rather than the 35 years proposed), as homes in sheltered schemes are.
We agree that while self-management by lay directors may be suitable for small or simple buildings, larger, higher-risk buildings or those designated for the care and support of certain groups of people, such as older or the learning disabled, should require professional directors or agents to ensure effective governance and compliance.
We believe that there should be higher requirements in terms of training and continuous professional development for those directors responsible for safety and quality in those properties, as well as the need to employ competent and regulated managing agents to ensure service standards are met.
We understand the UK government is committed to extending the benefits of commonhold ownership as widely as possible, including within the affordable housing sector. We acknowledge that more work has been undertaken to try to accommodate mixed-tenure buildings, and the draft Bill proposes integrating shared ownership into the commonhold framework for the first time, with the ability to:
- Establish “sections”
- Allocate separate heads of costs
- Apply minority protections which are helpful.
However, we don’t believe these changes go far enough to protect social landlords in carrying out their legal and regulatory duties or tenants’ rights. There have been considerable changes in legislation and regulation over recent years in housing, planning and building safety, not all pulling in the same direction and not all complete.
Social landlords have been under significant pressure to improve services and adapt to a rapidly changing legal and regulatory environment. It has therefore not been possible for the sector to fully consider how this proposed legislation will impact on all areas of their work since the draft bill was published on 27 January 2026.
To ensure the continued functioning of the housing market across all tenures and improve the likelihood of meeting the government’s target of building 1.5million new homes, all proposed changes in the housing sector must be considered together. The proposals to enhance some homeowners’ rights should not inadvertently risk the delivery of much needed social and affordable rented homes.
Given the complexities involved, we urge government to engage in discussions with the social housing sector over how best to deal with these issues before any legislation is passed. We stand ready to support with this.
For more informaation, please contact Chloe Fletcher, head of policy and external affairs at chloe.fletcher@cih.org.
