Every proposed, consulted, and in-force leasehold reform in England and Wales — with plain-English status and what it means for leaseholders. Updated monthly.
📅 Last updated: August 2026 — Read our full guide to the 2026 Bill →
Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on 20 July 2026 following Keir Starmer's resignation. His team had been reported to be examining proposals from campaign group Fairer Share to replace Stamp Duty Land Tax and Council Tax with an annual levy on property value — suggested at 0.48% for main homes, but 0.96% (double) for second homes, empty homes, and homes owned by overseas buyers. Burnham has since confirmed he will not change property tax in the October 2026 Budget, which property portals including Rightmove have described as giving buyers "more certainty into the autumn." This resolves the immediate question for this Budget, but the underlying policy debate has not disappeared — over 100 Labour MPs have pushed for reform, and nothing rules out the proposal being revisited at a future fiscal event. This is not legislated and no bill exists — treat the October Budget as settled for now, but keep watching beyond it.
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 banned ground rent on most new residential long leases in England and Wales. All new leases from 30 June 2022 must set ground rent at peppercorn (zero). Breaches carry civil penalties of up to £5,000.
Qualifying leaseholders (properties in buildings above 11m / 5 storeys that were their main home, or where they owned no more than 3 UK residential properties as of 14 February 2022) pay nothing to remove dangerous cladding, and contributions to other historical building safety defects are capped at £15,000 in Greater London and £10,000 elsewhere. Landlords must provide a formal certificate, or demonstrate costs fall outside the Act, before asking leaseholders to contribute anything. Check your specific eligibility using the government's Leaseholder Protections Checker.
The same 2022 Act banned regulated ground rent on new retirement property leases, with a delayed commencement to allow the sector to adapt.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 banned the granting of new long residential leasehold houses (with very limited exceptions). Houses sold as new builds must now be sold freehold.
Under the 2024 Act, owners of leasehold houses no longer need to wait two years before claiming their right to buy the freehold.
Managing agents must now disclose commissions received on buildings insurance placed on behalf of leaseholders.
The 2024 Act raised the non-residential floor area limit for Right to Manage claims from 25% to 50%, bringing many more mixed-use buildings into scope. Leaseholders are also no longer generally liable for the freeholder's legal costs of a standard RTM claim. Note: this 50% limit is for Right to Manage only — collective enfranchisement (buying the freehold) still uses the older 25% limit. Full guide to Right to Manage →
These provisions are in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 but require separate commencement orders — statutory instruments that activate each provision — before they take legal effect.
The standard statutory lease extension term increases from 90 years to 990 years for both flats and houses. Leaseholders extending after commencement will receive a 990-year extension — making re-extension effectively unnecessary for any practical lifetime. No confirmed date.
The two-year qualifying ownership period before a leaseholder can claim a statutory lease extension or participate in collective enfranchisement is abolished for flats. No confirmed commencement date.
The requirement to pay marriage value (50% of the uplift in combined property value) when extending a lease with less than 80 years remaining is abolished. This is the most financially significant provision — potentially saving leaseholders £10,000–£80,000+ on extension premiums. Commencement has been delayed by a legal challenge: freeholder groups, including the Duke of Westminster's and Earl of Cadogan's estates, sought a judicial review of the abolition. The High Court dismissed that challenge on 24 October 2025, but the Court of Appeal has since granted five freeholder groups permission to appeal, meaning the legal uncertainty — and the delay to commencement — continues. No confirmed commencement date. Not yet in force. See our guide: Should I Wait or Extend Now?
The Secretary of State will be able to prescribe relativity tables by regulation, replacing the contested RICS graph disputes. Not yet enacted.
Leaseholders will have the right to receive detailed annual service charge accounts in a prescribed, standardised format, making it easier to identify and challenge unreasonable charges. The government's formal response, published 15 July 2026, confirmed it will proceed with standardised service charge demand forms, mandatory annual reports, enhanced rights to request information, and a reform of the litigation costs regime so leaseholders are better protected from paying a landlord's legal costs without proper scrutiny. Commencement dates for these specific measures have not yet been confirmed.
Freeholders and managing agents will be banned from recovering opaque insurance commissions — sometimes exceeding 50% of the premium — through service charges. These will be replaced with defined, transparent "permitted insurance fees" covering only specific chargeable activities such as claims handling. An FCA report found broker remuneration on leasehold buildings insurance rose 40% between 2019 and 2022 with no clear benefit to leaseholders. Enabled by Sections 61–64 of the 2024 Act; detailed rules are being finalised in secondary legislation.
The default rule requiring leaseholders to pay freeholders' legal costs in lease extension disputes will be reversed — each party will bear their own costs in most cases.
These provisions appear in the Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published for consultation on 27 January 2026. The "Moving to Commonhold" consultation closed in April 2026; a separate consultation on whether "quid pro quo" leases should be exempt from the ground rent cap closes 27 August 2026, alongside a consultation on the specific valuation rates used to set the cap, which opened 15 July 2026. The government's current target for the £250 ground rent cap to take effect on existing leases is late 2028, subject to parliamentary approval. A House of Commons Select Committee report published 27 May 2026 recommended the government shorten the proposed 40-year transition period to as little as 20 years and bring the cap forward to late 2027 instead — the government's formal response was delayed by the change of Prime Minister and is now expected shortly after the summer recess. The government intends to introduce an amended Bill to Parliament in autumn 2026, with Royal Assent expected by mid-2027. None of the provisions below are yet law. Full guide to the 2026 Bill →
All existing residential leases in England would have ground rent capped at £250 per year, regardless of what the lease says. Doubling clauses and RPI escalation overridden. Falls to peppercorn after 40 years. Full guide →
Equivalent provision for Welsh residential leases. Same mechanism as England but at a lower cap level.
New residential flats must be sold as commonhold. Leasehold prohibited for new-build residential properties. Existing leasehold properties are not affected.
Commonhold — where each owner holds their unit outright with no lease and no time limit — replaces leasehold as the mandatory form of ownership for new-build flats.
Existing leaseholders could convert their building to commonhold by majority vote (rather than requiring unanimity as current law demands). A majority vote among leaseholders would be sufficient.
The freeholder's right to terminate (forfeit) a leaseholder's lease for breach — including for minor service charge arrears — would be abolished and replaced with a debt recovery regime.
Freeholders and managing agents would be required to publish benchmark service charge information. Charges exceeding benchmarks by more than 20% would face automatic Tribunal referral.
The government is consulting on whether certain historic leases — where a leaseholder originally paid a reduced purchase price, or received some other benefit, in exchange for accepting a higher or escalating ground rent (a "quid pro quo" arrangement) — should be carved out of the proposed £250 ground rent cap. Leaseholder advocacy groups, including the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, have warned that a broad exemption beyond cases already identified and remedied by the Law Commission risks years of litigation and opportunities for freeholders to relabel ordinary leases as "quid pro quo" to escape the cap. This consultation closes 27 August 2026 — if you believe your lease could be affected, this is the window to respond. Full explainer →
Nearly nine years after Grenfell, only around 35% of the 4,310 identified buildings above 11m with unsafe cladding have completed remediation. Several strands of reform are moving simultaneously: a Remediation Bill confirmed in the King's Speech (13 May 2026) targeting developers, freeholders and manufacturers who have stalled repairs; a separate Leaseholder Remediation (Building Safety) Bill, a Private Member's Bill that had its first reading in the House of Lords on 9 June 2026 (uncertain prospects — Private Member's Bills rarely progress without government backing); a new Building Safety Levy on developers of new residential buildings, in force from 1 October 2026, expected to raise around £3.4 billion over ten years; and a new targeted funding scheme for buildings under 11m with life-critical cladding defects, with applications expected to open 17 August 2026 via an extension to the Cladding Safety Scheme. A Court of Appeal ruling in 2026 (the Hippersley Point and East Village Estate cases) also confirmed leaseholders cannot be charged for historical defects predating the Building Safety Act 2022. Full guide: are you protected from cladding costs? →
A separate Law Commission review and government consultation is examining mandatory qualifications, regulation, and a code of conduct for managing agents. No legislation yet.
The 2024 Act included provisions to regulate charges on freehold estates (often called Fleecehold), but commencement is under review. Affects homeowners on housing estates paying private management charges.
We update this tracker monthly and will email you when any provision changes status — particularly when commencement dates for marriage value abolition or the ground rent cap are confirmed.
Be the first to know when the Bill becomes law, new rates are confirmed, and key provisions come into force.