Living Horizon Scanner – June 2026

Industry news

Key aspects of the King’s Speech for the Living sector include:

• The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill,intended to modernise residential property tenure, and transition away from the leasehold system for flats. Key provisions (non-exhaustively) include: capping and phasing out ground rents; abolishing forfeiture for small breaches such as unpaid ground rents or service charges; a ban on new leasehold flats; making commonhold the default tenure; and supporting leaseholder rights. Key measures in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill may not be implemented until late 2028
• A new Remediation Bill, considered below in our Building Safety section
• The Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill, intended to tackle late payments between businesses, which particularly affects SMEs, and to improve the flow of cash through supply chains. An area of particular interest for the living/construction sector is the proposed ban on deducting and withholding retention payments under construction contracts.

The newly established National Housing Bank, operating within Homes England, has published its Investment Prospectus, featuring £16bn in funding and has confirmed its first initiative is a £100m Aviva partnership to build up to 3,300 homes.

The government’s new towns programme update is due in summer 2026. One to watch.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. It establishes a strategic authority framework for English devolution, confers and regulates functions of strategic authorities and mayors, makes further provision about local government reorganisation, governance, elections, assets of community value, and commercial rent reviews. See our recent articles on key aspects: Assets of community value: Upcoming reforms – Walker Morris and Proposed ban on upward-only rent reviews: What you need to know – Walker Morris.

In this recent article published by BE News, our Construction & Engineering specialists Carly Thorpe and Joshua Clough look at what the conflict in Iran means for the UK built environment sector.

The Construction Leadership Council has issued this communication to industry on the impact on the UK’s construction sector of the planned introduction of steel tariffs and quotas (taking effect on 1 July 2026).

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has announced revisions to its assessment process. The new model adopts a percentage scoring system with equal weighting given to themes of community, environment and workforce. Revisions include an increased focus on safety, social value, inclusivity and environmental preparedness.

Two recent contrasting judgments on SDLT show how important it can be to understand what amounts to “residential property”. In Wood v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 265 (TC), the property bordered the River Thames. Part of the Thames Path, a busy public right of way, prevented the owners from building on land at the bottom of the garden. That and the lack of privacy meant that the area couldn’t be used by the house owners in any meaningful way. As such, it didn’t qualify as “land that formed part of the garden or grounds of the property”, and the property wasn’t entirely residential. The appropriate scale for SDLT was therefore “mixed use”, resulting in a significantly reduced SDLT liability. In Ferguson v HMRC [2026] TC09782 the buyer claimed that because a paddock being bought with a large country house was subject to a grazing licence in favour of an adjoining livery business, the mixed-use scale should be applied. The Tribunal didn’t agree. The physical layout indicate it formed part of the gardens or grounds, and the grazing licence wasn’t binding on the buyer, so the property was entirely residential and the SDLT liability substantially higher.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has published notice of a collective ‘opt out’ damages claim against Rightmove in respect of alleged abuse of its dominant position in the property portal services market. The application alleges that Rightmove breached competition law by charging excessive and unfair prices and by exclusionary conduct that has given unfair advantage to Rightmove’s platform. The application has been brought on behalf of a proposed class expected to mainly comprise estate agents, letting agents and new homes developers with no more than three branches.

Soil data is now freely accessible to all via the online National Soil Map. The resource should support free research and decision-making across agriculture, construction, conservation, climate science, hydrology, flood risk modelling and landscape management.

Housing

The New Homes Quality Board released its first update to the New Homes Quality Code on 2 March 2026.  See our recent article for what you need to know.

The new ‘Housing Streamlined Route‘ (or, ‘Housing Streamlined Subsidy Scheme’) took effect from 14 April 2026 and will remain in place until 13 April 2032. In this article, we explore: what the Housing Streamlined Route is; what types of subsidy are covered; what conditions must be met to fall within the streamlined route; and what this new regime may mean for businesses operating in this sector.

Is restoration of heritage buildings a partial solution to addressing the UK’s housing needs? In the last few weeks, PJ Livesey has launched its report, Unlocking Heritage for Housing; Historic England has unveiled its 2026 Heritage Investment Prospectus, detailing sites with the potential to deliver housing; and Pick Everard has argued that hitting on the right long-term business model puts the short-term challenges of regenerating culture and heritage sites into perspective. Heritage housing could be a ‘horizon issue’ to watch.

HCLG Committee news

The Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee has published a report calling for faster and more extensive commonhold and leasehold reform. The report states that while the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill represents a significant step towards giving leaseholders control over their buildings, further reform is required to meet leaseholders’ expectations and previous government commitments. The Committee recommends amendments to strengthen the proposed reforms, including implementation of the proposed £250 annual ground rent cap for existing leaseholders by late 2027 and reconsideration of the proposed 40-year transition to peppercorn ground rents. The report also calls for the establishment of an independent regulator for property managing agents, enactment of outstanding Law Commission recommendations on commonhold, clarification of shared ownership voting rights, and modernisation of HM Land Registry systems to support implementation of commonhold reform.

The HCLG Committee will shortly publish a report recommending improvements to the home-buying process. Potential changes will include standardised search results recorded once on the Land Registry, a single ID check by a reputable source, a modified version of home information packs, and mandated provision of certain information required for property transactions (such as surveys prepared by chartered surveyors) upfront rather than during the transaction.

The HCLG Committee has called for a consultation on alternatives to Stamp Duty by the end of 2026. It has also recommended giving councils greater powers to bring empty and under-occupied homes back into residential use and called for annual homebuilding targets and regular updates on action being taken to increase delivery by private developers.

Also in HCLG news, the Committee has widened the scope of its housing scrutiny, shifting attention from the planning system per se, to the quality of new build housing. The Committee has noted tension between pressure to build at pace, and standards. It has specifically raised concerns about structural defects, damp and mould, inadequate mitigation of overheating risk, and the need for greater provision of accessible and adaptable homes, to address the needs of an ageing population.

Leasehold

The first phase of reforms under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 took effect on 1 May 2026, introducing a raft of significant changes to tenancy rules and procedures for the private rented sector in England. See our recent article for what you need to know.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is considering consultation responses on a new Direction requiring the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to set a revised tenure standard that aligns with the new assured tenancy and regulatory framework under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which is expected to come into force for the social rented sector in October 2027. The MHCLG intends to issue the new Direction by October 2026.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published a leasehold toolkit providing guidance on the leasehold landscape and future changes across England and Wales. The toolkit aims to build awareness, understanding and confidence in changes introduced by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. The toolkit looks ahead to future changes for leasehold and covers the overview of current leasehold arrangements alongside the legislative reforms. See LNB News 20/05/2026 59.

The Court of Appeal has handed down its judgment in Muca v El Amrani; Harker & Ors v Hubert & Anor [2026] EWCA Civ 515 on the requirement for landlords to supply a gas safety certificate to tenants before occupation if they wish to rely on a section 21 notice. The court confirmed that, where a landlord fails to provide a tenant with a gas safety certificate before the tenant first occupies the property, that breach is not capable of being remedied for the purposes of serving a valid section 21 notice, and so is fatal to the validity of a section 21 notice served.

Energy performance

The government has published a suite of updates on the Future Homes and Buildings Standards. The Written Ministerial Statement, which sets out the overarching policy direction, confirming that low carbon heating and solar panels will be expected in the majority of cases, can be accessed here. The accompanying Circular summarises the changes. The regulations and impact assessments, here, confirm the introduction of a new functional requirement for on-site renewable electricity generation within Building Regulations. This is expected to make solar PV (or equivalent technologies) standard across majority of new homes. Rollout is anticipated for 2027/28.

The government has published a response to its consultation on reforming the Energy Performance of Buildings regime in England and Wales. This covers what Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) will measure and when they will be required. For domestic buildings, EPCs will move from a single headline rating to four headline metrics, supplemented by secondary energy demand and carbon metrics. Non‑domestic EPCs will retain a single carbon‑based headline metric. The government will maintain the 10‑year EPC validity period and require EPCs at the point of marketing. New‑style EPCs are targeted for October 2026, subject to legislation.

The updated Future Homes and Buildings Standards suite should be read alongside the government’s response to The Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation and the Warm Homes Plan, which place significant emphasis on heat network ambitions and changes to the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regime.

Legal Futures has reported that energy compliance in the commercial real estate sector is slowing, new analysis has revealed, raising concerns of stranded assets and sell-offs. See our articles on climate-related asset stranding and sustainability in the built environment, for legal and practical advice.

Our team has advised CB Collier Ltd on the successful exchange of contracts for a strategic land site which is expected to pave the way for a high‑quality residential development.

We were delighted to be shortlisted for Real Estate Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2026, recognising the outstanding performance of its Real Estate practice over the past year.

Planning

We’re pleased to announce that David Wood has joined as a Director in our Planning Group. David has over 15 years’ experience advising clients on high-profile development proposals, including big-ticket urban regeneration schemes, commercial and residential development and major energy and infrastructure work. He specialises in major urban development and regeneration schemes and has acted on a number of strategic applications across the country.

At the recent UK Real Estate Infrastructure and Investment Forum (UK REiiF), Steve Reed indicated that the new National Planning Policy Framework will be published shortly – before or around the summer recess. He also spoke openly about the possibility of the government intervening on the demand side, to support housing delivery.

The UK is looking to new towns as a key part of its housing and growth strategy. But the journey from policy to delivery is anything but straightforward. At UKREiiF, our Partner in the Planning & Infrastructure Consents team, Lee Gordon, joined Paula Hirst (Harlow & Gilston Garden Town) and Tim Burke (Estates Gazette) to discuss the “heavy lifting” required to bring forward entirely new communities. The conversation moved through planning theory and into the practical realities of delivering viable, infrastructure-led places. Lee highlights key takeaways from the discussion in this article.

The National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions is due to come into force in England on 31 October 2026. Introduced through the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, the Scheme is intended to bring greater consistency to local decision making through clarifying which planning decisions should be taken by officers. The changes should reduce the number of applications being unnecessarily considered by planning committees. See here for confirmation of the Scheme and statutory guidance.

Planning Resource has reported that housing minister Matthew Pennycook has called in an application for 256 homes on green belt land after the scheme was refused by the local authority, despite earlier ministerial direction to allocate the site. The move underscores the government’s increasingly interventionist approach to planning decisions where delivery is seen to be at risk. It also reflects ongoing tensions around green belt policy, as ministers seek to balance housing need against longstanding protections and local opposition.

Savills have reported that planning appeal success rates in England are experiencing a clear and sustained upswing – particularly for major residential developments.

Defra has published the UK’s new Land Use Framework. The framework aims to support a more consistent spatial vision for England by aligning national and local plans. It seeks to balance competing demands on land (housing, food production, energy infrastructure, and environmental goals) with safeguarding agricultural productivity. It commits to providing data and tools so planning decisions on housing and energy can be faster, clearer and more predictable.

From 2024 through June 2026 there has been an increasingly emergent argument in the UK that recent (mainly Labour) planning reforms are “undemocratic”. On 9 June 2026, the argument hit national media headlines via the BBC’s reporting of Cornwall Council’s approval of solar farm proposals despite objections over visual impact and the loss of farming land. Although previously more prevalent in the context of infrastructure planning, high profile reporting may lead to this trend progressing, and to the argument increasingly being raised, in the living context.

Nature/climate impact/sustainability

The government has published its response to the 2025 consultation on improving the implementation of biodiversity net gain (BNG) for minor, medium and brownfield development. The response confirms changes that will materially alter how BNG applies to smaller schemes in England. In many cases the BNG requirement will be removed altogether.

The government has also published its response to its parallel 2025 consultation on the implementation of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). BNG is now scheduled to apply to NSIP applications from 2 November 2026.

The government is consulting further on BNG, considering a targeted exemption for residential brownfield development. The consultation seeks views on the definition of brownfield residential development, potential thresholds for an exemption, and identifying measures to ensure any exemption remains environmentally robust. Details on the consultation can be found here.

Homes England has signed up to the Homes for Nature commitment, meaning scheme members will be required to install a bird-nesting brick or box for every new home built, and a hedgehog highway in every new development. Members are also encouraged to incorporate additional features such as bat roosts, insect bricks and hibernacula, and to consider nature-led sustainable urban drainage systems and nature-focused planting.

The Welsh Government has passed the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill had been passed. It will require Welsh Ministers to set legally binding biodiversity targets.

Last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in Finch confirmed that applications for major developments should consider all significant direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. The Institute of Environmental and Sustainability Professionals has now launched updated guidance on how to assess the significance of greenhouse gas emissions from development projects, in light of Finch.

Building Safety

The Building Safety Regulatory (BSR) has published its new strategic plan to March 2027. The plan prioritises: improvement of operations and processes; driving remediation of unsafe buildings; strengthened oversight during construction and at completion (Gateway 3); continuous review of building safety risks and standards; and improvement of professional standards and industry competence.

The 30 Burstock Road decision is the first to consider interpretation of Regulation 18A of the Building Regulations 2010, which allows appeals to the BSR against a local authority’s refusal to issue key building certificates. The council had taken 2 years and then refused to issue a certificate without citing clear reasons. The applicant appealed to the BSR under Regulation 18A. After a 15-month delay, the BSR issued a decision also refusing the appeal, but on new reasons and citing a regulation that the council hadn’t mentioned. In a further appeal, the First-tier Tribunal decided: the BSR had acted ultra vires by refusing the appeal on new grounds not raised by the council and by failing to follow basic principles of fairness and transparency; the BSR’s appellate role is binary – it must either allow or refuse the appeal based on the original grounds; and only if the appeal is successful does a respondent have the power to quash or to vary the decision – a respondent has no power to both refuse the decision and vary it.

The government has published its Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report Government Response: Annual Report 2026. The report sets out a detailed account of the work undertaken over the past year, alongside the milestones and plans for the year ahead and beyond. The report is divided into thematic chapters that align with the government’s February 2025 response. The annex contains an update on the progress made against each individual recommendation, along with a delivery timeline for those recommendations that remain open.

The Remediation Bill (mentioned in the King’s Speech May 2026) is directly relevant to clients with interests in buildings with historic cladding or building safety defects. Of the 4,310 buildings in England with unsafe cladding over 11 metres in height, remediation work has been completed on only 35 per cent. The Bill is designed to accelerate progress It:

• Introduces a legal duty to identify, assess and remediate unsafe buildings, without delay.
• Sets mandatory deadlines for cladding remediation work.
• Strengthens enforcement, including the possibility of criminal sanctions in the most serious cases.
• Enables developers, contractors and others who have paid to make buildings safe to properly pursue construction product manufacturers for remediation costs.
• Enables a third party (such as Homes England) to step in and carry out remediation where the responsible party is not acting. This power will be backed by sanctions, including cost recovery and potential sale of the responsible party’s interest.
• Mandates a nationally consistent approach to external wall assessments, to ensure remediation work is carried out to a uniform standard.
• Introduces a new register of all medium-rise buildings (11-18 metres) requiring remediation work.

After reporting approval of 67% of Gateway 2 decisions reached over a rolling 12-week period earlier in 2026, the BSR has introduced its comprehensive External Remediation Improvement Plan to reduce external remediation delays and improve management of application caseloads.

The government is considering proposed changes to how building works to existing higher‑risk buildings (HRBs) are categorised for building control purposes. The consultation focuses on improving the proportionality of the Gateway 2 approval process for Category A and B works, published guidance, the Competent Persons Schemes, and future reform.

The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 (REP Regulations) came into force on 6 April 2026. They create several new duties, including to conduct person-centred risk assessments of, and create evacuation plans for, individual residents who would have difficulty evacuating a building without assistance in the event of a fire. See the government’s Responsible Persons toolkit and PEEPs Guidance (updated April 2026) for further information.

The government has also published a Special Edition Building Safety Newsletter, covering building safety newsletter, highlighting the publication of: Grenfell Tower Inquiry Government Annual Report (referred to above), the Construction Products Reform White Paper, a Statement from the Interim Chief Construction Advisor, and more.

The Building Safety (Wales) Bill has received Royal Assent. The Act establishes a new building safety regime for multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales. More detail about the Welsh regime will be set out in regulations and government guidance to follow. See also our recent article: Building safety: A new statutory framework for Wales – Walker Morris.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has published the second edition of its valuation standard for secured lending on multi-storey, multi-occupancy residential buildings with cladding. The revised standard incorporates changes arising from the BSA, developments relating to the External Wall System process, and updated approaches to fire risk appraisal and remediation. It provides further guidance on the information valuers should obtain when assessing properties with cladding and sets out expectations for reporting and valuation assumptions in cases involving unresolved fire safety risks.

In Crest Nicholson v Ardmore [2026] EWHC 789 (TCC), the Technology and Construction Court confirmed that Building Liability Orders (BLOs) under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) may be granted on an anticipatory basis, prior to determination of substantive liability, where just and equitable. The court also held that an adjudicator’s award can constitute a ‘relevant liability’ for these purposes, notwithstanding its provisional nature.

On 21 May 2026, in Into Nominee v Study Group UK [2026] EWHC 1201 (TCC) (the Voyager House, Brighton case), the High Court held that an agreement for lease and a long-term commercial lease of student accommodation hadn’t been frustrated, despite serious fire safety defects and the BSA rendering the building unoccupiable/unfit for its intended use. In a summary judgment hearing, the court rejected the tenant’s attempt to rely on frustration, and awarded the landlord substantial rent arrears.

Homes England has published updated versions of the Grant Funding Agreement, Deed of Trust and Duty of Care Agreement used in the Cladding Safety Scheme.

Retirement and Care Living

Skills for Care is offering practical toolkits to support implementation of effective approaches and improved outcomes in adult social care. The toolkits cover planning, governance, digital tools, workforce development and impact measurement, and include examples from organisations that are strengthening recruitment, retention, capability and care quality.

The International Organization for Standardization has launched a new international standard addressing how care quality for older people is defined and measured. ISO 25557:2026, Ageing Societies: Care Quality for Older Persons at Home and in Care Facilities sets out a framework for assessing care quality across both residential services and care delivered in people’s own homes.

LaingBuisson’s latest Care Homes for Older People report values the market at an estimated £27.3bn in 2025/26 – a growth of more than 50% since its dip to £17.7bn in 2020/21 (Covid).

Caring Times has reported that evaluation following implementation of AI-enabled smart lighting at care homes across Lancashire and South Cumbria reveals a reduction in falls of around 32%; reduced average response times to incidents from more than 11 minutes to under three minutes; and around a 23% reduction in ambulance call‑outs. The care homes in question were using Nobi lights, which prevent falls with smart and motion-sensor lighting to reduce disorientation, and which detect and report fall risk behaviour and falls in real-time to prompt assistance and reduce response times.