Shared Ownership Resources calls on MHCLG for a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners, and for shared owners not to be excluded from benefits of ongoing leasehold and commonhold reform.
To: Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing & Planning
Date: 27 May 2026
Leaseholder toolkit
On 20 May 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) published a Leaseholder toolkit.
MHCLG describes the aims of the toolkit as:
- Building awareness, understanding and confidence in the changes being introduced by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) and the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, and
- Looking ahead to future changes for leasehold.
- Setting out what these reforms mean for leaseholders, freeholders and those involved in managing residential buildings, with clear guidance on rights, responsibilities and next steps.
“These are people’s homes, and we must do right by them. The reforms are designed to make homeownership fairer, more transparent and more secure. We want leaseholders to be fully aware of their new rights.”
However, there is a notable absence from the toolkit. There is no mention of shared ownership. And the omission is hard to understand. As Shared Ownership Resources stated in written evidence to the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the draft Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill in 2024: “Shared owners currently have fewer rights, more burdens and weaker consumer protections than residential leaseholders more generally”.
Shared Ownership Resources calls upon MHCLG to publish a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners so they are fully informed about how reforms will make shared ownership “fairer, more transparent and more secure”, and are aware of the extent of “their new rights”.
Legislative reform and shared ownership
The 99-year model lease and new lease extension rights
There are currently over 250,000 households in shared ownership homes in England. The vast majority purchased short 99-year leases as a direct consequence of guidance issued by Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) and related model lease terms. Inside Housing reports ‘Multiple examples of shared owners being given 99-year leases by housing associations, while market sale buyers on the same development were given 125-year or 999-year leases’.
In 2021 we told the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the draft Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill that complex ownership structures (S106) exacerbate barriers to lease extension. In such arrangements housing provider landlords may themselves only have a short interest in the lease.
We welcomed your statement, in November 2024, in which you said: “We must correct an omission that would deny tens of thousands of shared ownership leaseholders the right to extend their lease with their direct landlord given that the providers in question do not have sufficiently long leases to grant 990-year lease extensions”.
However, in a report published today, Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee says: ‘The draft bill does not contain measures to address the flaws identified, nor does it tackle the omission affecting shared owners’.
Shared Ownership Resources calls upon MHCLG to provide details, in a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners, precisely how their rights to lease extension will be improved and delivered under proposed reforms, and when such reforms will take effect.
The initial repair period and fair collective decision making under commonhold
In evidence to the HCLG Committee in March 2026, Shared Ownership Resources raised concerns about the impact of the 10-year initial repair period (IRP) on fair collective decision-making in commonhold associations.
‘Specifically, during the 10-year ‘initial repair period’, the draft bill proposes that the shared ownership provider will have some control over commonhold decisions, in place of the shared owners, with further details to be determined in secondary legislation. The government must urgently clarify this, by amending the final bill to allow shared owners and their providers to share the property’s vote during the initial repair period. Shared owners must not be shut out of decisions which directly affect them.’ (Our emphasis)
HCLG Committee, Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
Shared Ownership Resources calls upon MHCLG to provide details, in a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners, how flaws in draft legislation relating to the 10-year initial repair period (under the ‘new model’ for shared ownership) will be resolved.
Ground rent
In 2024, Shared Ownership Resources told the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the draft Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill that shared owners should not be excluded from ground rent reforms intended to benefit residential leaseholders.
“Homes England model shared ownership leases suggest that shared ownership leases should not generally contain a more than nominal ground rent, in addition to the rent payable on the unacquired “share”. However, responses to the leaseholder survey which we carried out as part of our Enfranchisement consultation suggest that a number of shared ownership providers do charge a significant annual ground rent.”
In March 2026, we raised concerns with the HCLG Committee about whether a proposed £250 cap would apply to shared owners. “The proposed cap is intended to protect people from paying unregulated and unaffordable ground rent. However, if ground rent paid on a landlord’s share in equity is exempt from proposals in the draft Bill, this would create a two-tier system disadvantaging shared ownership leaseholders”.
Shared Ownership Resources calls upon MHCLG to provide details, in a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners, whether or not they will be exempted from reforms to ground rent which benefit residential leaseholders more generally.
Older Persons Shared Ownership (OPSO)
In March 2026, we raised concerns with the HCLG Committee as to whether complexities associated with Older Person’s Shared Ownership (OPSO) Extra Care homes would be adequately dealt with under proposed new legislation.
‘We have concerns around collective decision-making in commonhold associations where Older People’s Shared Ownership (OPSO) schemes are in operation. OPSO Extra Care schemes are commercially, operationally and legally complex and around ten times more expensive than ‘standard’ shared ownership schemes to deliver. Additionally, such schemes are often delivered under a business model which greatly disadvantages beneficiaries and executors relative to the provider. These are issues that seem unlikely to be resolved by commonhold reform, though we have concerns that such reforms could further complicate the picture.’
Shared Ownership Resources written evidence to the HCLG Committee, 2026
Shared Ownership Resources calls upon MHCLG to provide details, in a Leasehold toolkit for shared owners, on how complexities relating specifically to Older People’s Shared Ownership (OPSO) Extra Care will be dealt with under new legislation.
MHCLG Response
Additional Resources
HCLG Committee – Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
MHCLG – Leasehold toolkit
Thank you so much for continuing to represent the interests of shared owners who may not have the knowledge, skills and ability to do so individually. This is really appreciated (on behalf of my daughter).
Thanks, Karen. Appreciate you taking the time to comment, and your kind words.