Yes, flaking off leather is a common problem. Whenever I complain about this kind of things with the dealer, he usually comes with a variety of reasoning. According to him, it is happening because of the change in temperatures and usage etc.
When I talked with friends, they suggested the use of leather oils. Though people usually use
leather oils for boats and jackets but yes, I am applying them on my leather sofa because I recently purchased a new cover for it and I don't want to make it saggy and allow wrinkles. Let's see how this oil protects it.
However, in my opinion, the flaking thing only revolves around the poor quality of leather. Even it happened with my leather jacket last year.