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Sales of a shared ownership flat are more likely to fall through than a normal sale, due to the additional constraints involved. First dibs have to be given to the registered provider, who then has to look for a buyer who qualifies for shared ownership, so there is a restricted pool of buyers. The sale price is set by a RICS valuation, which shared owners have to pay for, and this also restricts the pool of buyers, as that valuation may be more than they are prepared to pay. Then, any purchaser’s lender can be reluctant to lend due to building safety concerns. So a shared owner may find a potential purchaser and then give four months’ notice to their tenant. If they waited until contracts were exchanged before giving notice, they would almost certainly lose the buyer, whose mortgage offer may well expire in the meantime. If the sale falls through, a void of any length—let alone a 12-month period, as proposed in the Bill—would cause severe financial hardship and put their home at risk. They would immediately be exposed to arrears and risk defaulting on their mortgage, rent and/or service charge, triggering possession claims.