The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024, but most of it is still not in force. Once commenced it will be the most significant overhaul of leasehold law in a generation, making lease extensions cheaper, the right to manage easier to claim and service charges more transparent. Only three sets of commencement regulations have been made so far, and the provisions that reduce the price of a lease extension are not among them. A further wave of reform is proposed in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published on 27 January 2026, which would end leasehold for newly built flats and cap ground rents on existing leases.

What is already in force

Three commencement regulations have been made under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. They brought the following into force:

• Two-year ownership condition removed, from 31 January 2025. Section 27 removed the qualifying period, so you can claim a lease extension or the freehold as soon as you are registered at HM Land Registry as the owner.
• Right to manage changes, from 3 March 2025. Sections 49 to 52 raised the non-residential limit for right-to-manage qualifying buildings from 25% to 50% and stopped freeholders recovering their legal costs from leaseholders making an RTM claim.
• Building safety remediation, from 31 October 2024. Sections 114 to 116 dealt with remediation orders and remediation contribution orders. Our guide to the Building Safety Act 2022 explains how those orders work.

What the Act will change once it is commenced

The provisions below are on the statute book but have no legal effect yet, and no commencement date has been announced for them. Until each is commenced, the existing law continues to apply:

1. Marriage value abolished. Leaseholders extending leases with fewer than 80 years remaining would no longer pay marriage value as part of the premium. This is the single biggest saving in the Act for short-lease owners, and it is the change most often reported as though it had already happened. It has not. Marriage value remains payable today on every extension of a lease with 80 years or less remaining.
2. Standard valuation method and capped rates. The Act would cap the treatment of ground rents in the premium calculation at 0.1% of the property value, and allows the government to prescribe the rates used to calculate extension and enfranchisement premiums. Those rates have not been published, which is part of why this group of provisions has not been commenced.
3. 990-year lease extensions. The statutory lease extension would increase from 90 years to 990 years. Until then, a statutory extension adds 90 years.
4. Leasehold houses. Subject to limited exceptions such as retirement complexes, new houses could no longer be sold on a leasehold basis.
5. Legal costs changes. Leaseholders currently pay the reasonable legal and valuation costs of the freeholder in most claims. The Act would provide that each side generally meets its own costs, with limited exceptions for lower-value claims.
6. Ground rent buyout right. Leaseholders with at least 150 years left on their lease could buy out the ground rent without also extending the lease term.
7. Service charge transparency. Landlords and managing agents would have to provide standardised service charge documents. The prescribed forms these provisions depend on do not exist yet, so this duty is not one a leaseholder can rely on today. The right to dispute service charges under the existing law is unaffected.

What is in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill

The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published on 27 January 2026, proposes a further set of changes, including:

• End of leasehold for new flats. Newly built flats would be sold as commonhold rather than leasehold, giving flat owners a freehold interest in their unit and joint ownership of the common parts through a commonhold association.
• Ground rent cap on existing leases. A cap at £250 per year, falling to a peppercorn after 40 years, with the cap expected to come into force in late 2028 subject to parliamentary timings.
• Forfeiture abolished for residential leases. Replaced with a more proportionate, court-supervised enforcement scheme. The current rules on forfeiture of a residential lease continue to apply until then.
• Estate rentcharge enforcement reformed. Sections 121 and 122 of the Law of Property Act 1925 would be repealed, with rentcharge owners required to give notice before commencing enforcement for arrears.

None of these proposals are in force yet. The draft Bill is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation between 27 January and 24 April 2026, with the final Bill expected to be introduced in Parliament in autumn 2026.

For a fuller picture of the Bill, read our guide to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.

Should I extend my lease now?

The valuation reforms are not in force, so a lease extension today is priced under the existing 1993 Act rules. Marriage value is still payable on a lease with 80 years or less remaining, and a statutory extension still adds 90 years, not 990.

That does not make waiting the better option. A lease keeps getting shorter and the premium keeps rising, while the date the valuation changes take effect is still unknown. If your lease is at or near 80 years, the cost of waiting is real and can be calculated; the saving cannot, because it does not yet exist on any timetable you can plan around.

For leaseholders with longer leases and a modest ground rent, waiting for the proposed £250 cap may make sense. Note that the 2024 Act’s ground-rent buyout right, which would let a leaseholder with at least 150 years remaining buy out the ground rent without extending the term, is not in force either.

Whether to act under the 2024 Act or wait for the Bill depends on the years remaining, current ground rent, and your plans for the property. Specialist advice on your position is worth taking before either acting or waiting.

Speak to our leasehold team

If you have any queries on the 2024 Act or the proposed Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, contact our leasehold dispute solicitors. Call us on 020 7485 8811 or fill in our online enquiry form.

For details of the Government’s latest proposals, including commonhold and the proposed abolition of leasehold for new flats, read our guide to the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.