In a speech at the Institute for Government on 29th April 2026 Matthew Pennycook vowed to do whatever is necessary to dismantle the “archaic and iniquitous” system of leasehold, to “deliver a fair and efficient modern residential property market” and to “transform the experience of homeownership for millions of leaseholders across the country”.
But what has the Government committed to do by the end of this Parliament?
- to enact the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Bill introduced in January 2026 to make commonhold the default ownership model for new buildings and to make it easier for existing flat owners to convert their buildings to commonhold
- to ban the use of leasehold for new flats except in very limited circumstances
- to consult on and prescribe valuation rates in order to cap the calculation of ground rent at 0.1% of the freehold value and to abolish the payment of marriage value for lease extensions and freehold purchases (collective enfranchisements)
- to implement mandatory leasebacks for those purchasing their freeholds so that they do not have to pay for commercial units or non-participating flats
- to enact the remaining Law Commission recommendations on freehold purchases and right to manage
- to implement measures contained in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) to make freehold purchases and lease extension processes cheaper and easier
- to tackle the tricky issue of development value in freehold purchases
- to press ahead with capping ground rents in existing leases at £250 a year reducing to a peppercorn after 40 years
- to abolish the practice of bringing flat leases to an end where the leaseholder has breached the lease known as “forfeiture” and to replace it with a modern, proportionate lease enforcement system
- to review the responses to the consultation and to consider how best to effectively strengthen the regulation of managing agents
- to bring into force certain measures contained in LFRA to:
- standardise and drive up the transparency of service charges;
- to tackle the issue of unfair insurance fees; and
- to rebalance the legal costs which act as a barrier to leaseholders enforcing their service charge rights
- to sponsor a Law Commission project to consider how homeowners on freehold privately managed estates can be given greater control over the management of their estate and
- to bring the system of leasehold to an orderly end
If you require assistance with the above, please contact us on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of the team will be in touch.