With two new consultations recently launched, the Government’s response to earlier consultations and the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill still awaited and a change of Prime Minister, you would be forgiven for wondering what on earth is going on with leasehold reform. This is the story so far:
Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA 2024)
Provisions in LFRA 2024 are intended to:
- make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders in houses and flats to extend their lease or buy their freehold, including by removing the requirement to pay marriage value.
- increase the standard lease extension term to 990 years, with ground rent reduced to a peppercorn (zero financial value), upon payment of a premium.
- change the qualifying criteria to give more leaseholders the right to extend their lease, buy their freehold and take over management of their building.
- ban the granting of new leasehold houses (with some exceptions).
- improve the transparency of:
- service charges and give leaseholders a new right to request information about service charges and the management of their building.
- administration charges and buildings insurance commissions.
- remove the presumption that leaseholders pay their landlord’s legal costs when challenging poor practice and give them a new right to apply to claim their legal costs from their landlord.
- extend access to redress schemes for leaseholders where the freeholder manages the property directly.
- ensure that relevant property sales information is provided to leaseholders in a timely manner.
LFRA 2024 was also intended to strengthen the rights of homeowners on private and mixed-tenure estates. The Library briefing on freehold estate management provides further information about these measures.
Reforms Already in Force
The Government has brought into force provisions removing the requirement for a leaseholder to have owned a property for two years before exercising statutory rights to:
The Government brought into force changes which:
- extend the Right to Manage to more mixed-use buildings; and
- provide greater protection for leaseholders from certain landlord costs in Right to Manage claims.
Reforms Not Yet in Force
The majority of the LFRA 2024 provisions have not yet been commenced. However, the Government has:
- consulted on proposals to prevent freeholders, property managing agents and landlords from imposing opaque and excessive charges related to building insurance, often in the form of commissions.
- consulted on measures to strengthen leaseholder protections over charges and services. The government’s response, published on 15 July 2026, confirmed the government will:
- implement measures to drive up the transparency of service charges, including standardised service charge demand forms, an annual report and enhanced leaseholder rights to obtain information on request.
- reform the litigation costs regime to address the imbalance between leaseholders and landlords.
- introduce a transparent and fair permitted building insurance payment.
Secondary legislation is intended to be laid in Parliament in 2026, with the reforms being implemented as soon as possible from 2027.
The Government is also consulting on the methods for calculating the cost of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition and the level of the landlord’s fees that the leaseholder should be forced to pay. It is intended that marriage value will no longer form part of the calculations but this has been challenged in the High Court with permission to appeal to decision.
The Government’s leasehold toolkit (published 20 May 2026) states that implementation of the LFRA 2024, together with further legislation, is intended to replace the existing leasehold model with a fairer commonhold-based system over time, but does not give fixed commencement dates for the remaining provisions.
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
In January 2026 the Government published a draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. The Government states that this legislation is intended to:
- create a new legal framework to make commonhold work.
- ban the use of leasehold for most new flats and make commonhold the default method of flat ownership. The government has consulted on its proposals,, including the scope and timing of the ban and any exemptions. The consultation closed on 24 April 2026 and the government is analysing the feedback.
- cap ground rents at £250 a year, falling to a peppercorn after 40 years, with the cap likely to come into force in late 2028, subject to parliamentary approval. The government is consulting on whether ‘quid pro quo’ leases should be exempt from the proposed cap. The consultation closes on 27 August 2026.
- abolish the threat of forfeiture, a very draconian way of bringing a lease to an end, replacing it with a fairer and more proportionate lease enforcement scheme.
- repeal the disproportionate enforcement powers given to owners of estate rentcharges on private freehold estates and require rentcharge owners to provide notice before starting enforcement action for estate rentcharge arrears.
- create a new right for leaseholders in flats to request improvements, such as a gigabit capable broadband connection. The government has consulted on legislative proposals to address broadband rollout in leasehold flats. The consultation closed on 16 February 2026 and the government is analysing the feedback.
Regulation of property managing agents
The Government also intends to strengthen the regulation of property managing agents. As a first step, it has consulted on proposals to introduce mandatory professional qualifications for managing agents in England. The consultation also sought views on whether a similar approach should be taken in Wales. The consultation closed on 26 September 2025 and the government will respond in due course.
Bottom line: As of August 2026, only a limited number of LFRA 2024 provisions have been commenced. The headline reforms affecting valuation, marriage value and 990-year lease extensions remain unimplemented, with the Government continuing to develop the necessary secondary legislation and the wider commonhold and leasehold reform via the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill and current consultations.