FirstPort, one of Britain's largest property management firms, has launched a new video podcast series tackling a contentious sector debate: how the planned introduction of commonhold tenure could fundamentally alter the management of social housing. The inaugural episode of Built, Managed, Lived., released on 9 June 2026, features senior executives from L&Q and The Guinness Partnership – two of the UK's largest housing associations – discussing the practical implications of moving away from leasehold structures.
Why Commonhold Matters for Social Housing
Commonhold is a form of freehold tenure designed for multi-occupancy buildings, in which individual unit owners hold freehold title to their flats while jointly owning and managing common areas through a commonhold association. Unlike leasehold, where leaseholders face declining lease terms and ground rent obligations to a freeholder, commonhold offers perpetual ownership and collective governance. The UK government has signalled its intention to make commonhold the default tenure for new flats, a shift that could reshape how hundreds of thousands of social housing units are managed and eventually sold under Right to Buy or shared-ownership schemes.
FirstPort's decision to devote its inaugural podcast to this topic reflects the urgency with which housing associations and property managers are grappling with the transition. Mairead McErlean, who hosts the series, is joined by Adrian Shaw of L&Q and Kevin Dunleavy of The Guinness Partnership. Both organisations manage tens of thousands of homes across England, and both face operational questions about how to integrate commonhold governance into existing estate management frameworks.
Operational Challenges on the Ground
The conversation centres on how commonhold could redistribute decision-making authority. In traditional leasehold social housing, the housing association retains ultimate control as freeholder, appointing managing agents and setting service-charge budgets. Under commonhold, residents would have a direct say in appointing managers, approving budgets and voting on major works – a shift that could enhance resident engagement but also complicate coordination across large estates with mixed tenure.
Adrian Shaw of L&Q highlights the need for clarity on reserved matters: which decisions would remain with the housing association (for instance, structural repairs or fire-safety upgrades mandated by statute) and which would fall to the commonhold association. Kevin Dunleavy of The Guinness Partnership raises concerns about the readiness of leaseholders – many of whom acquired their homes under shared-ownership schemes or Right to Buy – to assume the governance responsibilities that commonhold entails. Training, dispute-resolution mechanisms and transparent financial reporting will be critical to prevent governance deadlocks.
Impact on Service Charges and Transparency
One practical advantage discussed in the podcast is the potential for improved transparency. Commonhold associations are required to operate on a not-for-profit basis, with all service-charge income directed toward estate upkeep. This contrasts with some leasehold arrangements where freeholders or managing agents earn fees that residents perceive as opaque. For social landlords already subject to regulatory oversight by the Regulator of Social Housing, the move to commonhold could align governance more closely with sector norms of tenant engagement and accountability.
However, the transition poses financial questions. Converting existing leasehold estates to commonhold requires unanimous leaseholder consent and legal restructuring, a process that could prove costly and protracted. New-build schemes will be easier to launch as commonhold from the outset, but housing associations worry about a two-tier system in which legacy leasehold estates coexist with new commonhold developments, each subject to different management regimes.
Strategic Positioning by FirstPort
By convening senior figures from L&Q and The Guinness Partnership, FirstPort positions itself as a thought leader in the evolving landscape. The firm manages over 190,000 homes across the UK, many of them mixed-tenure estates where social housing sits alongside private leasehold and shared-ownership units. FirstPort's interest is clear: as the commonhold model gains traction, property managers will need to adapt their service offerings, training staff in commonhold law and developing IT systems to support resident-led governance.
The Built, Managed, Lived. podcast series is available on FirstPort's corporate website and major podcast platforms. Future episodes are expected to cover fire safety post-Grenfell, decarbonisation of existing housing stock and the digitalisation of estate management – all areas where regulatory change is driving operational transformation. For housing associations and managing agents, the series offers a forum to share best practice and air concerns before statutory reform takes effect.
Wider Policy Context
The UK government's Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act, which received Royal Assent in 2024, laid the groundwork for expanding commonhold by removing certain legal obstacles and simplifying the conversion process. Housing minister statements in early 2026 reiterated the ambition to make commonhold the default for new flats, though no firm implementation date has been set. Industry bodies including the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation have called for a phased rollout, with pilot schemes in select local authorities to test governance models before nationwide adoption.
For social landlords, the stakes are high. Around 1.5 million social homes in England are flats, many in estates where leaseholders – including former council tenants who exercised Right to Buy – live alongside assured tenants. Any shift to commonhold must balance the autonomy of owner-occupiers with the housing association's duty to maintain affordable rents and standards for tenants who do not own their homes. The podcast discussion underscores the complexity of this balancing act.
What Housing Professionals Should Watch
Practitioners in property management and WEG administration should monitor three developments in the coming months. First, draft statutory instruments detailing commonhold association governance and reserve-fund requirements are expected from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Second, sector bodies are likely to publish model articles of association and financial templates for commonhold associations managing social housing. Third, the Regulator of Social Housing may issue guidance on how registered providers should discharge their regulatory obligations when part of a commonhold structure.
FirstPort's podcast serves as an early-warning signal that the transition is moving from policy debate to operational planning. Housing associations, local authorities and managing agents who delay preparation risk being caught off-guard when legislative timelines accelerate. The conversation between Shaw, Dunleavy and McErlean offers a practical primer on the issues that will shape estate management for the next decade.
Related coverage on digital transformation in housing administration can be found in our recent PropTech efficiency analysis, while governance challenges in multi-tenure estates are explored in our report on owner-occupier advice.
