Why is it important for housing associations to discuss the move to commonhold sooner rather than later?

The opportunity to have our say in the Moving to commonhold consultation, which closed on 24 April 2026, sparked a wave of internal conversations at Torus.   

As we discussed what moving to commonhold could mean, it became clear that this will affect more than just the leasehold or sales teams within organisations. The risks and challenges posed in the draft bill will impact all areas of the business, from finance to asset management, development to leasehold. The question we asked ourselves is: how do we get the rest of our organisation up to speed on what is being proposed, in order to consider the implications further? 

What actions are we taking now?

We have now created a project group with membership from colleagues across the organisation. Our goal is to help increase understanding and knowledge whilst the draft bill follows its journey through Parliament. 

First, the project group will receive an overview from an external solicitor, explaining the commonhold proposals within the draft bill, which are complex and a little vague in parts. Then we will review the challenges, risks, and opportunities that commonhold will present.   

We will look at the effect that a commonhold structure will have on our rented schemes, and where a tenant exercises their statutory right to buy or right to acquire, thereby reducing the Association’s controlling shares on the Commonhold Association, how this would impact the ongoing management of the block. 

We will also need to consider where the membership for the Commonhold Association will come from within our organisation and consider the governance and assurance risks for directors who are appointed to the Commonhold Association.

There’s a lot of questions we need to consider, including: how the Commonhold Association will be managed and by whom? Will this mean new staffing requirements or additional resources within the business and which team would they best sit in? 

Why is discussing the future of commonhold important?

These early conversations have sparked a wider debate, prompting more questions on how the delivery of how compliance related services will be managed, or whether insurance provisions be sufficient, particularly where we do not hold the controlling shares on the Association.  

A key question that will arise is: will the interests of the Commonhold Association align with ours where the housing association’s aim to deliver well managed and well-maintained homes conflicts with rising service charges or maintenance costs? 

Something else that will need to be considered is the impact a commonhold tenure will have on development programmes and our ability to sell shared ownership apartments under the commonhold model. Lenders will need to carry out their own risk assessments before lending on shared ownership apartments within a commonhold scheme. Customers buying homes will need to understand their new responsibilities as a unit holder within the Commonhold Association. Could this put some buyers off? Will housing associations want to stop developing apartments if commonhold becomes the default tenure? 

We may have more questions than answers right now, and we're looking forward to the government's response to the consultation. But it’s important we keep discussing and debating all the challenges, putting forward possible solutions and maybe, just maybe, identify some opportunities to make commonhold work for our customers, and us.