Clear governance, defined safety responsibilities and better-informed homeowners will all be essential to ensuring that commonhold can operate effectively in practice and provide a durable and transparent ownership model for future residential communities. This was the consensus from a recent roundtable hosted in London by property management company, FirstPort.
Co-chaired by Robert Courts KC and FirstPort’s Head of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, Mairead McErlean, the event brought together senior leaders from more than a dozen major residential developers and housing associations to examine the government’s proposed shift from leasehold to commonhold – including the practical realities of implementing reforms across today’s increasingly complex residential developments.
In the discussions, participants welcomed the direction of reform but stressed the need for clearer guidance to ensure commonhold works effectively in practice. A key theme was the importance of better public understanding of commonhold – highlighting the need for education for owners, who will ultimately take on collective responsibility for governance, building safety, maintenance and long-term funding.
Developers also called for clearer safety and accountability structures, particularly in high-risk or multibuilding developments where responsibilities can easily become fragmented. They noted that today’s complex, mixed-use schemes raise further questions around phased conversions, shared infrastructure and the potential need for multiple commonhold associations. Greater clarity is also needed on how commonhold will interact with social housing, with governance models required to balance resident participation with the interests of housing associations while preventing any unintended division between tenures.
Overall, the roundtable agreed that the aims of the reform – transparency, resident involvement and fairer management of shared areas – are widely supported, but success will depend on legislation that reflects the real-world complexity of modern developments. If these practical issues are addressed, commonhold could offer a durable and transparent ownership model for future communities.
Mairead McErlean, Head of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs commented: “Today’s session demonstrated how much work the industry has already put in to understanding how commonhold will operate. There was a lot of common ground between the participants. There were also some new ideas and perspectives. Conversations like this are vital to identifying the practical challenges and how best to address and communicate them. Continued engagement across the sector will be essential to ensuring commonhold can operate effectively in practice”
Further details on the topics raised at the event are available in an insights article on the FirstPort website.
