The introduction of commonhold in the UK in 2004 has opened up a new way of organising collective action in urban neighborhouds. This paper examines the debate surrounding gated communities and private neighborhouds, drawn from experience of such communities around the world. It seeks to provide insights on haw it helps organizing the community, to which extents their are deriving benefits, but also the social costs and risks of such developments (s.a. financial liabilities).