Committee publication · Correspondence · 15 April 2026
Letter from the Home Builders Federation to the Chair dated 24 March 2026 following up oral evidence given on 17 March
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Inquiry: Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
Summary
The Home Builders Federation writes to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee following oral evidence on the Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. While supporting commonhold as the default tenure for new flats in principle, HBF warns that mortgage lenders, valuers, insurers and conveyancers remain unprepared for transition. HBF urges prioritising conversion of existing leasehold buildings over new-build-only implementation, emphasises the need for government-led education, and flags concerns about development rights, amenity adoption, and the cumulative viability pressures on apartment building.
Key findings
- HBF opposes a new-build-only approach to commonhold implementation, arguing this concentrates risk on new-build homebuyers and a small subset of specialist lenders, risking the experiment's failure; existing leasehold conversions should precede new-build roll-out.
- Supporting sectors—mortgage lenders, conveyancers, insurers—remain 'less than enthusiastic' and unprepared; only a small proportion of lenders support new-build apartments, many at loan-to-values below 85%, creating a critical bottleneck.
- Government-led education campaign must present a balanced picture of commonhold's drawbacks (e.g. service charges will not automatically be lower) alongside benefits to avoid 'storing up problems for the future'.
- Clarity needed on how development rights and amenity adoption will function under commonhold, particularly given the prevalence of local authority refusals to adopt new infrastructure and the lengthy delays involved.
- New apartment viability already severely constrained by multiple levies (CIL, Building Safety Levy, Residential Property Developer Tax), building regulations, and Building Safety Regulator delays; commonhold transition must be carefully sequenced and signalled well in advance with a multi-year runway.
Tone
AdversarialTopics
Key actors
Home Builders Federation (HBF), Florence Eshalomi MP, Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Building Safety Regulator, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), New Homes Quality Board
Notable line
“If lenders and government are not entirely confident that the tenure is ready to be rolled out, new build homebuyers should not be the subject of an experiment on its workability.”
Key Quotes
“… the support and preparedness of associated sectors such as mortgage lenders, valuers, insurers and conveyancers is a critical prerequisite for successful implementation of the Bill's provisions”
“Commonhold should not be introduced as an exclusively new build tenure. If lenders and government are not entirely confident that the tenure is ready to be rolled out, new build homebuyers should not be the subject of an experiment on its workability.”
“HBF has urged government to prioritise the facilitation of a flow of conversions of existing leasehold buildings before wholesale introduction of commonhold on new properties.”
“… only a proportion of lenders will actively lend on new build properties. Only a subset of these will support buyers of new build apartments and usually at lower loan-to-values than are offered elsewhere.”
“Industry remains concerned that presenting only the benefits of commonhold over leasehold will not give future homeowners a rounded picture and risks storing up problems for the future.”
“… the success of commonhold implementation will be determined most by the willingness and preparedness of mortgage lenders, insurers and conveyancers.”
“… the delivery of new homes continues to fall as home builders' appetite to invest is weighed against worsening viability and a lack of effective demand.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗