duration

Location
Virtual

Major changes are coming for leasehold and shared ownership. This year’s summit explores the evolving policy landscape and the implications. It also includes practical sessions and solutions to daily challenges.

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    At the end of January, the government published its long‑awaited draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, signalling what it describes as “the beginning of the end” of the current leasehold system.

    The proposals are wide‑ranging, high‑profile and, if implemented, will reshape leasehold ownership in England and Wales.

    They include:

    • Banning new leasehold flats
    • Capping Ground Rents at £250 a year
    • Abolishing Forfeiture (to be replaced by a new lease enforcement scheme)
    • Repealing estate rent charges.

    This year’s summit provides the perfect opportunity to get up to speed with the new legislation and the implications for housing providers and leaseholders.

    Plus, we know homeownership teams have a day job to do  That’s why we’ve included some expert-let sessions offering practical solutions and plenty of time to network with others to help you juggle your many challenges.

    Whether you’re managing leasehold properties, overseeing shared ownership schemes, or navigating service charge complexities, this summit is essential for you.

    Don’t miss the chance to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for the future of social housing. Join us to gain clarity, confidence, and a strategic edge in a rapidly changing housing landscape.

    What to expect:

    •  The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill – what the changes will mean for housing providers
    • A legal update on the leasehold and shared ownership landscape
    • The future of shared ownership panel – hear directly from the New Homes Quality Board shared ownership campaigner Sue Phillips and practitioners
    • Rent to Buy schemes – a practical session on the challenges and solutions.

    Who should attend:

    • Leasehold teams
    • Home ownership teams
    • Policy and strategy leads
    • Everyone involved in providing services to leaseholders and shared owners.

    We are offering a 3 for 2 deal for Leasehold Network members. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please use the coupon code #LEN3for2, or get in touch with [email protected] for more information.

  • Our speakers

    Helen Muir, Leasehold Network Associate, HQN
    Helen has extensive experience of shared ownership, having worked in senior roles for two large housing groups where her responsibilities included sales programme delivery and the management of over 5,000 shared ownership/leasehold homes, along with running the largest Help to Buy agency in England.

    As a consultant Helen specialises in affordable home ownership and leasehold management and has provided interim management and strategic and operational support to a number of registered providers, local authorities and private sector companies. Helen also supports the Leasehold Network, writing briefings and speaking at several events.

    Jackie Dickins, Leasehold Network Associate, HQN
    Jackie Dickins has been an HQN Associate since 2001 and is the lead consultant for our Leasehold Network. Prior to this she held positions at a London borough and two large housing associations based in London, where she was responsible for leasehold management and promoting work in the field of low-cost home ownership initiatives. Jackie undertakes many of HQN’s service reviews and service improvement work on leaseholder and home ownership. She has also worked in interim positions with a number of local authorities, arm’s length management organisations and housing associations as head of home ownership/home ownership manager.

    Jackie also runs pre-exam workshops at associate and member level for the Institute of Residential Property Managers (IRPM) and is delivering training for apprentices seeking associate membership of the IRPM.

    Jatinder Bhamber, Partner, Devonshires
    Jatinder has a strong practice in shared ownership and leasehold matters and regularly advises registered providers on shared ownership arrears proceedings, forfeiture, service charge disputes, unauthorised alterations and boundary disputes.

    Jatinder also advises registered providers and local authorities on all aspects of housing and tenancy management, including possession actions, antisocial behaviour injunctions, tenancy fraud, subletting committals, disrepair and fitness for human habitation claims and EPA actions.

    Jatinder also provides non-contentious advice to clients including the drafting of policies and procedures in relation to shared ownership as well as lease reviews and interpretation.

    Jatinder frequently provides training to registered providers to assist in the recovery of shared ownership arrears and leaseholder debt.

    Ronnie Pumfrey, Solicitor, Devonshires
    Ronnie is a Solicitor at Devonshires with experience acting for private landlords, tenants, managing agents, management companies, RTM companies and First-tier Tribunal appointed managers. His work includes residential and commercial service charge and rent recovery, service charge disputes, breach of lease claims, possession and forfeiture, and associated enforcement action (including charging orders, orders for sale and third-party debt orders), as well as bankruptcy and winding up petitions.

    He joined Devonshires in July 2025, having qualified as a solicitor in November 2024, and is a member of the Property Litigation Association.

    Emma Towler, Head of Ownership and Service Charges, Aster Group
    Emma Towler is a leasehold and service charge professional who has worked in social housing for more than 25 years. She is a specialist in home ownership, service charges and welfare reform and income management who has worked extensively with registered providers, ALMO’s and local authorities undertaking KLOE inspections and critical friend reviews of leasehold management and service charges, providing constructive SMART action plans to improve income recovery and improve processes and customer experiences.

    Emma has a proven track record of enabling housing providers to improve income recovery of service charges and improve customer satisfaction amongst homeowners. Emma has been an HQN associate for more than 15 years.

    Chris Forrester, Sales, Commercial and Leasehold Manager, One Manchester
    Chris has been working in the housing sector for over a decade now. He started his career as a Strategic Housing Apprentice at Derby City Council. Chris then moved into various roles across the sector from supply chain to governance and housing management to development. His area of interest, and what Chris has spent the bulk of his career doing, is affordable home ownership and leasehold management.

    Chris has been lucky enough to work across the country; including the Midlands, Yorkshire, London and the North West. He’s passionate about the whole sector and want to play his part in improving the housing services in Manchester and beyond.

    Sue Phillips, Founder, Shared Ownership Resources
    Sue launched Shared Ownership Resources in 2021, to champion the interests of shared owners, households considering shared ownership, and people who have inherited shared ownership homes. Shared Ownership Resources registered with the Charity Commission as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) in March 2026, and is the recipient of an MHCLG Social Housing Innovation Fund grant to develop the CIO as ‘a national voice for shared owners’.

    The CIO publishes case studies, collaborates with housing, legal and financial experts to offer specialist information and signposting; advocates reform to drive better outcomes, and campaigns for improved transparency and against mis-selling and other poor practices in the sector.

    Sue is recognised as an expert on shared ownership, and is committed to improving outcomes for entrants to the scheme. She is the author of ‘Shared Ownership: the consumer perspective’, writes blogs and briefings for HQN, and has provided evidence to Select Committees on topics ranging from affordability to shared ownership and commonhold.

    Claire Blenkin, Head of Sales, Sovereign Network Group
    Claire has been working in the affordable housing sector for over 16 years and has been part of the Senior Leadership team since 2012. She specialises in Shared Ownership and managing SNG’s team & strategy to deliver the sales programme within her region. Her previous experience is in developing sales pipelines for defence, blue-chip and FMCG brands.

    Her expertise lies in building relationships, understanding customer needs, and navigating the complexities of new build sales. Claire is committed to providing an excellent service and creating lasting positive impacts for families seeking their first step onto the property ladder.

    Hope Bailey, Head of Central Sales Services, Sovereign Network Group
    Hope serves as the Head of Central Sales Services for Sovereign Network Group (SNG). With over a decade of experience in the housing sector, Hope has specialised in managing shared ownership & open market sale pipelines, along with previously acting as Help to Buy Agency Manager for the Equity Loan Scheme.

    In her current capacity, Hope oversees the delivery of services supporting SNG’s sales pipelines and customers, including the sales contact, progression and administration teams. Additionally, she is responsible for formulating SNG’s policies relating to various sale tenures and improving the overall customer journey. Hope has recently been a pilot member for the Shared Ownership Code.

    Natasha Greenwood, Director of Shared Ownership, New Homes Quality Board Shared Ownership Code
    Natasha has worked within the housing sector for the past 30 years, having worked for three of the largest G15 organisations at Director and Head of Level , and has extensive experience in housing and leasehold management, strategy, governance and change management.  She is currently the Chair of the Shared Ownership Code Industry Panel.

    Ruth Picknett-Powell, Chair of SNG’s Resident and Board Partnership (RBP)
    Ruth is Chair of SNG’s Resident and Board Partnership (RBP), where she leads on strengthening resident voice and ensuring customers play a central role in governance and decision-making.Ruth has been a shared owner with SNG and its predecessor organisations since 2012. She became an engaged resident in 2021, joined their Resident and Board Partnership and now chairs this group. She also contributes to the Customer Influence Panel.

    Professionally, Ruth works as a Project Delivery Manager within the Civil Service, having spent much of her career focused on healthcare provision in the NHS. She also works as a Programme Manager in mental health services, bringing valuable experience in service delivery, transformation and public service improvement.

    Drawing on both her professional expertise and lived experience, Ruth is passionate about supporting SNG (and all housing associations) to be truly customer-focused organisations. She is committed to enabling informed, long-term decision-making that helps transform the homes and services provided to residents.

    Sean Scott, Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income, Camden Council
    With nearly 3 decades of working across Local Authorities, ALMOs and Housing Associations including G15 organisations, Sean has built extensive expertise in Housing and Property management with a strong focus on leasehold services, service charge management and income recovery.

    Sean is particularly focused on modernising services through data, digital innovation and clearer financial frameworks, while maintaining a strong customer focus. He has led a number of large-scale transformation programmes, including organisational restructures, digital system implementation and service redesigns, aimed at improving transparency, efficiency and customer experience.

    His work reflects the wider sector challenge of balancing financial sustainability with fairness and trust in leaseholder relationships.

     

  • Programme

    10:30am Welcome and introductions

    Helen Muir, Associate, HQN

    10:40am Legal update and horizon scan for 2026

    Jatinder Bhamber, Partner, Devonshires
    Ronnie Pumfrey, Solicitor, Devonshires
    • Renters’ Rights Act and how it’ll affect shared owners
    • Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act
    • The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
    • To cover any case law examples and key takeaways for organisations.

    11:10am The future of shared ownership – a panel discussion

    Natasha Greenwood, Director of Shared Ownership, New Homes Quality Board
    Claire Blenkin Head of Sales, Sovereign Network Group
    Hope Bailey Head of Central Sales Services, Sovereign Network Group
    Ruth Picknett-Powell, Chair of SNG’s Resident and Board Partnership (RBP)

    New Homes Quality Board

    • New Homes Quality Board to give an update on implementing the Shared Ownership Code
    • What challenges have been faced
    • What positive change has it made.

    Sovereign Network Group

    • Customer perception of shared ownership
    • Changed customer profile of a shared owner
    • Shared owners satisfaction – how satisfaction has been improved and what the plans are to improve it further in the future.

    12:00pm Break

    12:15pm A shared ownership horizon scan 2026

    Sue Phillips, Shared Ownership Resources, Founder
    • What to expect for shared ownership in 2026
    • ‘A new national voice for shared owners’: what Shared Ownership Resources has planned.

    12:45pm Preparing for leasehold legislation

    Sean Scott, Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income, Camden Council
    • Changes to leasehold legislation
    • What this means in practice
    • Early lessons, challenges and priorities
    • Communication, transparency and support for leaseholders.

    1:15pm Lunch

    2:00pm Rent to buy schemes – the challenges and solutions

    Chris Forrester, Sales, Commercial and Leasehold Manager, One Manchester
    • An overview of the rent to buy scheme and how it works
    • What are the common issues around the scheme
    • Any case studies from the scheme – what do customers think of the scheme?
    • Case study on someone at the start of the 5 year scheme and someone who’s about to buy their property.

    2:30pm Section 20 toolkit

    Jackie Dickins, Associate, HQN
    Emma Towler, Associate, HQN
    • A practical walk through of our new Section 20 toolkit
    • How to use it day-to-day.

    3:00pm Q&A, wrap up and key takeaways

    3:30pm Close

  • Testimonials

    • A really interesting day, a lot of learning which I will use in my work moving forwards.

      Settle Group

    • Incredibly knowledgeable speakers who are striving to make a difference to our end users whilst making sure we are staying compliant.

      Bromsgrove District Housing Trust

    • Jackie was excellent as usual, keeps a dull topic interesting and explains everything in a way that is easy to understand.

      bdht

    • As someone who has just joined the leasehold world, I found this very useful!

      Oxford City Council

    • I felt thoroughly engaged throughout the whole process – thank you to Helen and all attendees for making it interesting.

      Tendring District Council

    • Very good training. Helen is very thorough, helpful on questions and patient.

      Trent & Dove Housing

    • Thank you Jackie – a very excellent course delivered very well! Her knowledge is vast and impressive.

      Cardiff Council
  • Cancellations and substitutions

    If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

    Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

    If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

    Cancellations must be made in writing and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.

  • Price and booking

    Bookings are closed for this event.

    If you experience any issues when submitting your booking, please email [email protected] with the name and date of the session along with the delegate name(s), email address(es) and job title(s) and we'll process the booking for you.

Dates



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