PNPR handles the PR for the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) and also three planning consultancies among many others.
This combination of clients (along with our work for LRG's New Homes and Portfolio Sales teams) gives us a unique insight into how future leasehold reform (the potential replacement of leasehold with commonhold) interplays with the government's growth agenda, specifically the target of delivering 1.5 million homes this Parliament.
Following discussions with leasehold enfranchisement practitioners, planning consultants, architects and new homes developers, this is what I've gleaned:
Leasehold reform and housing delivery
- The government's move towards mandating commonhold as the default tenure for flats is one of the most significant shifts in a generation — for both law and the built environment.
- While intended to increase fairness for homeowners, the reforms risk constraining high-density housing delivery — the very type of development required to meet the target of 1.5 million homes this Parliament.
Investor and lender confidence
- Lenders remain cautious about commonhold, wary of enforcement challenges if co-owners fail to pay service charges.
- Without reliable lending, developers may be reluctant to bring forward schemes that will be among the commonhold guinea pigs, particularly high-rise and city-centre projects.
- This could reduce investment appetite from both UK and international buyers, undermining supply.
The burden of management
- Commonhold and Right to Manage give residents greater control but also place responsibility for building safety, capital works and budgeting on individuals who may not have the expertise or time — think second home owners based overseas, retirement properties, schemes in which a variety of languages are spoken.
- In practice, a minority often carries the majority of the workload, creating governance risks that can deter both residents and lenders.
Market impacts
- Commonhold does not eliminate costs — it makes them more visible. Owners face full liability for reserve funds, repairs and safety measures, which could affect the affordability and attractiveness of flats, especially for those whose finances are already stretched by the property purchase and have few reserves to draw on — such as first time buyers.
- The repricing of flats to reflect real liabilities may be rational market behaviour but risks dampening demand in the short term.
- If fewer first time buyers move onto the property ladder as a result, potentially all chains will suffer, leading to a housing market slow-down.
Alternatives and innovation
- Developers who I have spoken to are already trialling hybrid models which combine the transparency of resident control with the financial certainty of long leases.
- Such approaches demonstrate that reform does not need to be a binary choice between leasehold and commonhold, but can evolve in ways that balance consumer protection with market confidence.
Implications for planning and growth
- If commonhold deters flat buyers or lenders, developers may pivot away from apartments towards houses — a move that runs counter to planning policy goals for density and efficient land use.
- The risk is a slowdown in urban regeneration and mixed-use schemes, with knock-on effects for meeting housing numbers and creating balanced communities.
A call for balance
- Leasehold reform is necessary to improve transparency and fairness, but a wholesale switch to commonhold may create more problems than it solves.
- Stronger regulation of managing agents and clearer service charge rules could address many of leasehold's failings without destabilising the market.
- The government should consider transitional models that preserve delivery while safeguarding consumer interests, ensuring that legal reform does not inadvertently undermine the growth agenda.
For planners, developers, investors and consumers, there's a lot to consider.
For PNPR, we have to think beyond law and policy — to how change is understood across the property sector. Our work with planning consultancies, leasehold enfranchisement practitioners, new homes developers and institutional investors gives us a 360-degree view of how reform impacts across housing delivery and investment. That perspective allows us to craft campaigns that cut through complexity, highlight opportunity and build confidence among audiences that matter — whether that is government, the media, or the market. For organisations navigating these shifts, PNPR offers not only communications expertise but also the sector insight needed to ensure their position is clearly articulated and persuasively heard.