The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024, and has started to come into force.
The press release lauded the original publication of the Bill as “part of the most significant reforms to the leasehold system for a generation”. When implemented, the Act will increase the rights of England’s 5 million leaseholders, of which a staggering 1.5 million houses are leasehold houses.
The Act will also impact the English Private Rented Sector as, according to Official Statistics from 2022-23, 38% of all properties that private landlords let to tenants are leasehold. This equates to 1.8 million of the 4.9 million properties in the PRS in England.
In this blog post, I explain key legal terms about leasehold reform that are used in the Act, before going through its key provisions to explain what it means in practice. I also provide an update on implementation.
In writing this post, I draw on my experience as a lawyer, and also as the former owner of the top-floor flat of the property you can see in the photo above, which was my “accidental landlord” rental property.
Last updated: 11 July 2025
>> Related Post: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act Timeline
>> Related Post: What will be in the new Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill?
>> Related Post: Leasehold reform: service charges, major works, qualifications for managing agents
Guide to the Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act: At a Glance
- Explanation of key legal terms for leaseholders
- What new rights does the Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act 2024 give leaseholders?
- 1. New rights of leaseholders to have longer lease extensions for flats and houses
- 2. The new rights of leaseholders to buy the freeholds of their houses
- 3. Changes to the valuation method for collective enfranchisement by leaseholders
- 4. Collective enfranchisement for more mixed-use buildings
- 5. Greater transparency over service charges
- 6. Introduction of transparency over estate charges
- 7. Changes to building insurance costs
- 8. No restriction on ground rent
- 9. New ban on sale of leasehold houses introduced
- 10. Changes to the Right to Manage
- Does the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act abolish forfeiture?
- Will the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 make it cheaper to extend a lease or purchase a freehold?
- Why is commonhold not in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act?
- Progress on implementation of Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024
Explanation of key legal terms for leaseholders
Before we get into the detail what the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act promises to bring leaseholders, I explain the key legal terminology that is referred to throughout the Act:
1. What does leasehold mean?
An owner of a leasehold property (a leaseholder) doesn’t own their property. Instead, it is the freeholder who owns the land and the property built on it.
The freeholder gives the leaseholder permission to live in the property which is limited to a certain number of years, on terms set out in a lease agreement, and subject to various pieces of legislation.
The term of the lease is usually 99 or 125. The length of the lease decreases year by year until it eventually runs out, and reverts back to the freeholder, unless the leaseholder extends the lease or buys the freehold.
In return for the right to live in the property, the holder of the lease pays ground rent and a service charge to pay for repairs and maintenance. The lease agreement and legislation (such as this Act, when implemented) govern the respective rights of the leaseholder and freeholder.
2. What is marriage value?
Marriage value is one of the strangest terms in the law of property! Schedule 13 of Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 defines marriage value is the amount of the property increases in the value after the completion of enfranchisement or a lease extension.
Marriage value is very complicated to calculate. Justin Bennett of LBB Chartered Surveyors has explained that marriage value is “at its peak around 30-60 years when it is at 50% of costs”. According to the Leasehold Advisory Service, when calculating the marriage value, the valuer will “rely on local knowledge and experience to assess the increase in the value of the flat arising from the new lease”.
3. What is ground rent?
Ground rent is a sum which the owner of a leasehold property pays each year to the owner of the freehold. Unlike the service charge, the freeholder does not need to provide a service of benefit to the leaseholder in return. Sometimes this may be a nominal amount, but they often they increase over time, for instance, by inflation. There’s no requirement for ground rent to be reasonable.
Before 30 June 2022, leases often contained clauses obliging leaseholders to pay a rent which doubled after a set period of time. For instance, if the ground rent started at £250, and doubled every 10 years, this could become £2,000 after 30 years. These are referred to as doubling ground rent clauses. These clauses are very unpopular with lenders, and can make a property difficult to sell to anyone other than a cash buyer, unless the freeholder agrees to amend the clause.
Although the Ground Rent Act 2022 introduced a ban on ground rent clauses, the ban only benefitted new leases granted from 30 June 2022.
Ground rents are important as they reflected into the cost to the leaseholder of extending the lease, as well as potentially being an on-going financial burden.
4. What are service charges?
A service charge is a payment payable by the owner of a leasehold property to the owner of the freehold to cover the cost of insuring, maintaining, repairing, cleaning the building and any common parts. It may also include the costs of management services provided by the landlord or by a professional managing agent, and contributions to a reserve fund or sinking fund for future liabilities.
Service charges are a highly contentious area for long leaseholders due to a lack of transparency over what services are provided and how they are calculated.
5. What does collective enfranchisement mean?
Collective enfranchisement means the rights under the Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 for the qualifying leaseholders of flats in a building to join together and buy the freehold of that building. They each buy a share of the freehold, usually by means of a company in which each of the participating leaseholders has a share. The freeholder is unable to refuse a request if qualifying leaseholders of at least 50% of the flats in the building participate, and under 25% of the building is non-residential. The amount the leaseholders will have to pay is set out in a complex formula in the 1993 Act.
6. What are estate charges?
Estate charges are fees that the owners of properties on an estate, which may well be freeholders, are required to pay towards the upkeep of communal areas on a development. They differ from service charges for leaseholders which pay for the repair and maintenance of buildings.
Estate charges don’t pay for the upkeep of buildings, but fund services for the whole development, such as maintenance of the gardens, street lighting and the upkeep of any private roads.
What new rights does the Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act 2024 give leaseholders?
Here is an overview of the new rights that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act gives leaseholders.
1. New rights of leaseholders to have longer lease extensions for flats and houses
The Act enables qualifying leaseholders of both flats and houses to obtain a 990-year lease extension, instead of the current extra 50 years for houses or 90 years for flats. This will be on a peppercorn ground rent, and the new valuation process that is more favourable to the leaseholder.
The Act removes the requirement for “marriage value” (see above) to be paid. It also caps the treatment of future ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value. Whilst not a peppercorn, this is welcome news for leaseholders.
Whereas the previous law only allowed leaseholders of houses to extend leases for up to 50 years (compared to 90 for flats, the Act will ensure that houses and flats will be treated the same.
There will now no longer be a requirement for a leaseholder of a flat to have owned their property for at least two years before they can extend their lease. They will be able to extend the lease as soon as they buy the property. As Matthew Hearsum of JMW says: “This will simplify buying and selling short and medium terms leases, as a buyer will not need the seller to serve a notice and assign it to the buyer”.
Another useful provision is that leaseholders will not have to wait one year before they serve further notices. This means that leaseholders will be able to take advantage of fluctuations in the market. Matthew Hearsum explains the practical implications: “If a tenant serves a notice, the date of the valuation is on that date. If the market trends downwards the tenant may withdraw that notice and serve a new one, allowing them to adopt a later, more advantageous valuation dated”.
2. The new rights of leaseholders to buy the freeholds of their houses
The Act enables leaseholders of houses to buy the freehold of their house as soon as they buy the house, instead of having to wait two years under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.
3. Changes to the valuation method for collective enfranchisement by leaseholders
There are detailed provisions in the Act which change the way in which the amount which leaseholders need to pay the freeholder in order to buy the freehold together.
As with the change in the valuation method to enable leaseholders to extend their leases, the new valuation method removes the requirement for the marriage value to be paid, and caps the treatment of future ground rents to 0.1% of the freehold value. This will make it cheaper for most leaseholders to buy the freehold.
4. Collective enfranchisement for more mixed-use buildings
Should a group of leaseholders in a building wish to purchase the freehold together (collectively enfranchise) then under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, they can’t do so if more than 25% of the building is non-residential. Under the Act, this threshold increases to 50%.
This means that leaseholders of buildings with a higher commercial element will be able to collectively enfranchise, and consequently more buildings will be eligible.
5. Greater transparency over service charges
As I know from experience, one of the biggest bugbears of leaseholders is the lack of transparency over the calculation of service charges by the freeholder (or their management company).
The Act requires freeholders to be more transparent over service charges so that leaseholders will receive minimum key financial and non-financial information on a regular basis. This includes using a standard format for invoices, providing information about insurance and an annual report.
The intention is that leaseholders will have more information to enable them to challenge costs if they believe them to be unreasonable. Freeholders will also need to be more transparent over administration charges, by publishing up-to-date lists in advance.
As Michael Gove explained in the Second Reading debate: “a number of the people who have built, operated and retain the freehold on these estates levy service charges for all sorts of things that, in my view, are totally inappropriate. That is why the Bill makes clear that service charges have to be issued in a standardised format, so that they can be more easily scrutinised and challenged. It also makes clear that those charges can be challenged”.
Leaseholders will also have the right to request any information that is in the possession of the freeholder or managing agent regarding services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or the management of the buildings. It is like a “freedom of information” request for freeholders.
It remains to be seen how useful this is in practice.
6. Introduction of transparency over estate charges
It can come as a surprise for people who buy the freehold of a new build house that they have to pay for the upkeep of the communal areas of the estate. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act gives house owners the same rights to reasonableness and transparency when it comes to estate charges as leaseholders will have for service charges. They also have the right to challenge the charges at a Tribunal.
7. Changes to building insurance costs
Michael Gove commented in the Second Reading debate that freeholders had “abused their position” in relation to insurance commissions and that it was part of a “persistent pattern of behaviour that does require reform” to “milk” leaseholders.
Managing agents will only be able to charge transparent administration fees for building insurance, and won’t be able to receive commission from arranging building insurance on behalf of leaseholders.
8. No restriction on ground rent
The Conservative Government launched a consultation on 9 November 2023 entitled Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases to obtain feedback on five different ways to cap ground rents. The Conservative government said they to decide which method to incorporate into the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill after the consultation ended.
- capping ground rents at a peppercorn
- setting maximum financial value for ground rent
- capping ground rents at a percentage of the property value,
- limiting ground rent to the original value when the lease was agreed
- freezing ground rent at current levels.
The consultation on ground rent ended on 17 January 2024. During the Second Reading debate, Michael Gove said that whilst he cannot pre-empt the outcome of the consultation, his “favoured approach” is that it should be a peppercorn.
However, despite an article in The Sunday Times on 21 April claiming that ground rent would be capped at a maximum financial value of £250 per annum for ground rent for the next 20 years, the results of the consultation were never published. No provisions regarding ground rent were included in the Act.
Labour said they would “tackle ground rent” in their manifesto, but have not said how they will do this.
>> Related Post: The latest on ground rent reforms
9. New ban on sale of leasehold houses introduced
The Act introduces a ban on the sale of leasehold houses, as originally promised by Theresa May in 2017.
What is the definition of a long residential lease of a house in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act?
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act defines a “long residential lease of a house” as follows:
- The lease has a long term (more than 21 years).
- The lease demises one house (a “separate set of premises on one or more floors which forms the whole, or part, of a building, and is constructed or adapted for use for the purposes of a dwelling […] it is not a house if the whole of or a material part of the set of premises lies above or below some other part of the building).
- It is a residential lease (the terms of the lease do not prevent the house from being occupied under that lease as a separate dwelling).
10. Changes to the Right to Manage
The Act makes it easier and more affordable tof leaseholders to exercise their right to manage (RTM).
Previously, buildings with more than 25% non-residential (commercial) floor space were ineligible for RTM. Section 49 of the Act raises this limit to 50%, enabling more mixed-use properties to qualify.
Section 50 removed the requirement of leaseholders to cover their freeholders’ legal fees during RTM claims, making the process cheaper for leaseholders.
Sections 49 and 50 came into effect on 3 March 2025.
Does the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act abolish forfeiture?
No. Although the Housing Minister, Lee Rowley, said in the House of Commons debate for the Report Stage on 27 February 2024 that they would look into it, no such provision made it into the final version of the Bill that received Royal Assent.
It is possible that a future government may look at this. Matthew Pennycook, the Shadow Housing Minister, proposed an amendment to the Bill (NC1) that would have abolished the right of forfeiture in relation to residential long leases in instances where the leaseholder is in breach of covenant.
During the Report Stage debate, the Conservative Minister, Lee Rowley, said: “we recognise the strength of feeling on the vexed issue of forfeiture […] this is a real and significant problem, and there is a huge iniquity at stake.”
Will the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 make it cheaper to extend a lease or purchase a freehold?
It’s still not clear whether the Act will make it cheaper for leaseholders to extend a lease or purchase a freehold.
Matthew Hearsum says: “Whilst the Act does introduce many reforms that will (when brought into effect) make extending a lease or purchasing a freehold simpler, whether those processes will be cheaper will depend on where the new Government set the deferment and capitalisation rates. If those rates are set at the levels proposed by the Government expert during the consultation on the Bill, lease extensions will likely cost the same, and perhaps even cost more, than they did previously.”
Why is commonhold not in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act?
The Conservative government did not “reinvigorate” commonhold as recommended by the Law Commission in 2020, despite comments by Michael Gove in January 2023 in The Sunday Times that leasehold is “an outdated feudal system that needs to go. And we need to move to a better system and to liberate people from it”. In the Second Reading debate, he cited lack of parliamentary time in the Second Reading debate, but the former Housing Minister, Rachel Maclean, said that the work had already been done…
Instead, Michael Gove said in the Second Reading debate that they were “making sure that we squeeze every possible income stream that freeholders currently use, so that in effect, their [freeholders’] capacity to put the squeeze on leaseholders ends”. Whilst acknowledging there are some landowners and freeholders who take their obligations towards leaseholders seriously, he said that “individual leaseholders should not simply have to rely on the goodwill and good character of whoever the freeholder is; they need better protection in law, which is what we seek to achieve with the Bill”.
It was a 2024 Labour manifesto commitment to “to ban new leasehold flats and ensure commonhold is the default tenure”.
The Labour government published the Commonhold White Paper on 3 March 2025 and plan to make commonhold the default tenure for new developments by the end of this parliament (2029).
>> Useful Resource: Law Commission report “Leasehold home ownership: exercising the right to manage” – 454 pages
>> Useful Resource: Law Commission report “Leasehold home ownership: buying your freehold or extending your lease” – 860 pages
>> Related Post: Commonhold and plans to ban the sale of new leasehold flats
Progress on implementation of Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024
Progress on implementation has been slow. The abolition of the “two year rule” in Section 27 came into force on 31 January 2025. The right to manage provisions came into effect on 3 March 2025.
This is where we are on the rest:
- A consultation on service charges and commissions was published on 4 July 2025.
- A consultation on enfranchisement premiums will start in “summer 2025”
- The government will consult on “fleecehold” estate management charges in 2025. (No season suggested)
>> Related Post: Leasehold reform: service charges, major works, qualifications for managing agents
Suzanne – nice article.
These are the winners in government proposals. That’s the wealth transfer.
If you lower deferment or yield rates then the pendulum swings outside of the broad band (which may be wider depending on the rate used).
The market had lower yields prior to government intervention – now the market will follow the totalitarian approach of the government / Gove.
I have negotiated claims for mainly tenants for 30 years and lectured on the effect of deferment rates and relativity influencing the property market. Ultimately this is no different.
Marriage value is a by-product of an imperfect market. The 5% rate set in 2006 in Sportelli was priced off a risk-free rate of 2.25% and at the time the Ogden rate used in personal injury claims was 2.5%
Since 2019 the Ogden rate stands at MINUS 0.25% and therefore a fall of some 2.75% in that risk-free rate. If just a third of that fall was taken off the risk-free rate used to build up the deferment rate, used in Sportelli then the deferment rate would be around 4% and at that rate most marriage value disappears. Hence, in a perfect no act world market with no emotional attachment to property, marriage value should be temporary as the capitalization and deferment rates should adjust and marriage value disappear.
Will this act allow flat owners to buy a share of their freehold or just make extending the lease easier and cheaper without the marriage fee?
Yes it will enable leaseholders to buy a share of the freehold, with the new method of valuation. I’ll update the blog post to go into this in more detail, but I’ve replied to your message in more detail in the Facebook group,
Hello, I don’t understand the marriage value, I have a lease with 83 years remaining, I gather that if it falls under 80 then the cost can increase significantly, will those new bills change this? Thanks
Suzanne as a freeholder of my property I now find to my cost that I was miss sold my property by my builder stating its only £65/year for all grassed area to be cut as the council no longer adopt land.
This is completely untrue and our costs have already spiralled to an estimate of £160 next year to Gateway our private management company.
What redress as freeholders are we achieving with this Reform Bill?
All the talk seems to revolve around leasehold but basically this Fleecehold is just another con, that charges me again for what I am already paying for in my full council tax
Hey, great article.
I wondered if you had an information as to whether this reform may be applicable to commercial property. To confirm my commercial property resides within a house.
Kind regards
Lou
The bill description says it amends the rights of tenants under long residential leases to acquire the freeholds of their houses, to extend the leases of their houses or flats, and to collectively enfranchise or manage the buildings containing their flats, to give such tenants the right to reduce the rent payable under their leases to a peppercorn, to regulate charges and costs payable by residential tenants, to regulate residential estate management and to regulate rentcharges.
I don’t think it gives a commercial unit in a house any rights, but it’s best to check with a specialist solicitor.
Thank you for an informative article.
Our RMC has the opportunity to purchase the freehold based upon a multiple of the groundrent which will be reviewed (increased!) on 1/4/2024. The current level of groundrent makes this opportunity more favourable than following the statutory collective enfranchisement route if this were to be based upon the proposed 0.1% of capital value.
Do you think the proposed statutory figure will have to be amended in line with whatever comes out of the groundrent consultation? Obviously the options for a groundrent reduction to zero or the initial groundrent could make us postpone taking up the offer in the short-term.
I think it’s best to get advice from an expert on enfranchisement I would guess the answer is yes to your question, but I wouldn’t want you to make a financial decision based on what my hunch is
Hi, I have just reviewed the published PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES on the leashold reform bill (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-04/0013/PBC013_LeaseholdandFreehold_1st8th_Compilation_25_01_2024.pdf), but I’m nonthewiser about how much it will cost to extend my lease. I have 78 years remaining in a London flat so I’m waiting anxiously about the abolishment of marriage value. I understand the objective of the bill is to reduce the leaseholder’s financial burden, and in my case, this COULD be a significant saving through marriage value abolishment. However, there seems to be some complications on how the new premiums will be calculated, and I cannot see anywhere if overall, the new calculator will save me money and whether it is worth waiting. I’m losing ~£200/mth (and the freeholder is gaining this) just by waiting……
Do you know if the new calculator has been transparently published yet? Schedule 2 of the Bill is supposed to contain it but I can’t decipher the technicalities.
It is very complicated and I can’t figure it out either. Let me know if you’d like me to refer you to an expert on enfranchisement who may be able to help you.
Great article, does this applies to leasehold shared ownership house which are restricted to 75% and no further staircase allowed in original lease
I found this informative thank you. And I’m very confused about what to do! My family have started the process to extend my Mum’s lease.
We can pay a solicitor quite a large sum of money to serve notice on the landlord to start the negotiations on the cost of a 90 year extension to my elderly mums flat. We have estimated that this will cost about 30,000? Plus legal fees. If the bill is passed does that mean that others who have waited longer will pay less and get a 990 year extension? Do we wait?
If you’d like a second opinion from a specialist firm to advise you what’s best, I’m happy to refer you. Please email me via my contact form: https://theindependentlandlord.com/contact/
Good morning
We are one of 4 new builds(2020) who were coerced into signing up to be shareholdets of a management company set up by the builder of our properties and to pay a fee of £325 per annum for services connected to our properties. After only 5 months we were told the fee had increased to £2040 per annum. We refused to pay without explanation and eventually we were cut off leaving us to dispose of our own sewerage which I am still doing on behalf of 3 pensioners one with a disabled son. Will this new bill help us to get out of this nightmare senario.
This is awful. I hope the Bill will help the many people in your position.
Thank you for the nice article. I see that the leasehold reform bill passed its 3rd reading on the 27th of February and is now once again with the House of Commons. Does the 3rd reading still include abolishing marriage value?
Yes, that’s right. You can check on page 155 in the latest version of the bill (Schedule 4): https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/54460/documents/4496
Good Morning,
Thanks for an informative article.
I have just got a new job and we need to move from our leasehold flat which has 85 years remaining on the lease. Our plan is to try time the sale of the flat till the new bill/act comes into force so the purchaser can take advantage of the new rules. Does this sound a sensible strategy?
I can’t give personal advice, but it might make sense to wait until at least Royal Assent so it’s clear how the Act will benefit a purchaser.
I extended my lease under the current legislation by 90 years and now have a peppercorn ground rent.
Is there any information on how the new Bill would calculate the cost of a 990 lease extension where the ground rent on my current lease is already nil?
I assume it is the value of extending a lease with 200 years to 1190 years. If the additional years are worth anything it must be low but I am left wondering how low is low?
There seemed to be provision in the Bill to ensure the Landlord is not out of pocket for low value extensions but no account is taken of past expenditure on an earlier lease extension.
Hello. I’m not able to help with this sort of question. You can send me an email by clicking on this link if you’d like me to make a referral to you.
I understand the leasehold reform bill has now been quietly dropped, as the financial changes would harm the investments of pension providers – who own many freeholds – which in turn could affect people’s pensions. Can you throw any light on this please?
It hasn’t been dropped. In fact, the committee stage starts in the House of Lords on 22 April. You can keep an eye on progress in this post: https://theindependentlandlord.com/leasehold-reform-timeable-2/
We own a leasehold house with 107 years remaining on the lease. We pay ground rent of around £6 per year. On 21 March 2024 ahead of the new legislation coming in the Freeholder has offered the sale of the freehold for £1,500 plus legal and valuation costs of £1,900. They are offering to include our legal costs as well with a reputable local solicitor for a total of £3,200 including VAT. The offer is only available for 60 days from the 21 March 2024. I am wondering if we are better waiting for the bill being passed?
I have an onerous ground rent of 300 pds p.a. I lost my first buyer last year then ended up having to pay aborted legal fees of £1500 without moving anywhere. I have sold again but my new buyers lender and solicitor want a deed of variation, the lender wont accept indemnity insurance. The freeholder wants £13000 to do the deed of variation to level the ground rent to £250 which after paying that and legal/agents fees leaves me with hardly any money to pay my removal company. Im retired and moving north to be with my son and his family. My property has a healthy 114 yrs left on lease and is a new property and I never thought I would have a problem selling. If the bill gets passed by July I may be o.k. but do you think it will be passed in time as it does seem to be rushing through House of Lords quickly at the moment? I have worked so hard all my life bringing up my family on my own to have everything taken away.
I feel for you. I think it may well receive Royal Assent by the summer. We should hear about the new ground rent cap very soon.
Hello. I’m contemplating buying a freehold house on a development which would be subject to estate management charges (secured by rentcharge) and as this is new territory for me would like to be really clear about the implications. I see from a House of Commons Library document (Leasehold Reform in England and Wales: What’s Happening and When?), published 12 March 2024, that the Bill will “ensure a rentcharge owner is not able to take possession or grant a lease on a freehold property where the rentcharge remains unpaid for a short period of time”. But I’ve read all through the latest draft paying particular attention to Parts 5 and 6 and can’t find this provision at all. There is something in Part 7, provision 112, amending the ‘remedies for arrears of rentcharges’ in the Property Act 1925, but 112 seems expressly to apply only to what are defined as ‘regulated rentcharges’, which are those that couldn’t be created under the Rentcharges Act 1977 Section 2. Since under S2.3 of the RA 1977 estate rentcharges of the kind that will apply on the development can be created, that seems to imply that estate rentcharges are not ‘regulated rentcharges’ and therefore remedies for their arrears are unaffected. Is this so? I have no legal training so may have completely misunderstood what’s going on here. Some light would be really helpful and much appreciated!
Hello. Sorry, but I can’t provide advice on this website as I’m not a practising solicitor. This is the sort of thing you should ask your own solicitor. That said, “rent charges” are historical, with no new ones creating since 1977. They’re not the same as estate charges, so the 1977 Act is probably a red herring.
I’m thinking a buying a new build leasehold house. The developer has made 10 dwellings (5 flats and 5 houses) from a small former commercial site. All units are leasehold with a 990 lease and zero g/rent with provision that when the last property sells, all of the new owners will become shareholders of the freehold in a company.
Some of the properties have already completed.
My question is if the bill receives royal accent before I exchange contracts, will the developer HAVE to sell the house to me as a FREEHOLD (maybe with an estate charge instead of service charge) because he will be banned from selling me a leasehold house as the first new owner? Or is it that because it’s already registered as leasehold he can? The house is connected to other houses but separate from the flats building.
We are waiting to see if the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will be in the list of Bills that will be pushed through in the “wash up”. Hopefully we will know soon. I would think twice about buying a property with an estate charge or service charge unless increases are capped, as it means you’re not fully in control of your own property.
Great article thank you Are there any amends to freeholder legal fees no longer being covered by the leaseholder, as this is stipulated in my lease terms.
Hi, will I now be able to get together with the other flat owners in the house & do the much needed repairs & painting? The council own the freehold & don’t seem to have any money. The lovely Arts & Crafts house is in poor repair now.
Hi Suzanne,
In the Labour manifesto, mention is made of implementing all the Law Commission’s recommendations on Leasehold and Commonhold.
In those recommendations, one point is listed allowing sole leaseholders the right to enfranchise the freehold on their own, if the other leaseholder is offered the opportunity and declines, in circumstances where the building only contains two flats – do you expect this to be included as part of the bill? Or is it still pretty open as to what will be included, at this stage?
Thank you!
Hello Cat
The Law Commission made over 100 recommendations in their report Leasehold home ownership: buying your freehold or extending your lease, and a further 121 for commonhold. I would wager that not all of them will be implemented.
I suspect you’re right in that we’ll need to see what goes into the new bill. As commonhold is so complicated, this new bill will first be published in draft form, instead of going straight into the second reading and committee. In case you haven’t spotted my post on it, here’s the link: https://theindependentlandlord.com/leasehold-commonhold/
Best wishes
Excellent and very helpful information expressed in very easy to understand language and presentation format.
Given the pending and likely changes is there an updated ready reckoner that would be able to calculate an approximate value if we, the leaseholders, wanted to buy our freehold?
I’ve not seen one, not least because it’s still not finalised. When I spot one, I’ll add it to the post
hi,i have an ex local authority flat . I wonder what my situation will be or affect if in my freeholder is the council,? should i sell it or extend my lease?
As a substantial leaseholder, also the chair of the management company (we have many owner directors too), of 41 years. ( and a default freeholder in 2018 due to being the only one that could afford to buy it)….. I find myself thinking that there is no free lunch.
Freeholders, good ones, like me will see their assets devalue. Be gifted away even. However, worse still management companies that are good will walk away from many buildings that are difficult to work with. I know because I’ve discussed it with our own mgt company.
This will find many blocks of flats going into disrepair as in my experience not many leaseholders want to be involved, free of charge, with sorting issues out on their buildings.
And why should they?
I’ve gone to toe to toe with Katie Kendrick over all this and she tried to shout me down.
Firstly a lease holder of one of the best run building complexes in London, but equally I’m an accidental landlord who now sees how bad all this could be in the longer term for Doris or Burt who just want a quiet life.
Happy to discuss. If you fancy it, would make a great pod cast.
The two new leasehold enfranchisement consultations are where the real practical impact of reform will now be decided.
The consultation on valuation rates and the consultation on process costs may sound technical, but these details will determine whether leasehold reform delivers meaningful change in practice.
Valuation rates will shape the premiums leaseholders pay to extend leases or acquire freeholds. The challenge is to create a system that is transparent and predictable, while still reflecting a fair balance between leaseholders’ interests and freeholders’ property rights.
The process costs consultation is equally important. A major criticism of the current system has been that enfranchisement can become expensive, complex and adversarial, with costs acting as a barrier to leaseholders exercising their rights. A clearer and fairer costs regime could make the process more accessible and reduce unnecessary disputes.
Alongside this, freeholders have secured permission to take their Article 1 Protocol 1 challenge to the Court of Appeal. Their arguments did not succeed at first instance, with the High Court placing significant weight on Parliament’s objective of leasehold reform and its broad discretion in matters of social and economic policy.
Even if the challenge ultimately reached Strasbourg, the consequence would be a potential remedy against the UK Government so the broader constitutional question remains whether Parliament has struck a proportionate balance between individual property rights and wider housing policy objectives.
The bigger issue now is getting the regulations right. The success of leasehold reform will depend less on the headline legislation and more on whether these detailed rules deliver a system that is fair, workable and legally robust for everyone involved.
Leasehold Enfranchisement Valuation Rates Consultation: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/leasehold-enfranchisement-valuation-rates
Leasehold Enfranchisement Process Costs Consultation:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/leasehold-enfranchisement-process-costs
High Court dismisses landlords’ ECHR challenge to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2025/2751.html
Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal the decision of the High Court: https://casetracker.justice.gov.uk/getDetail.do?case_id=CA-2025-003051