Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024: now law, not yet in force—key changes and omissions in England and Wales

Published on: 12 June 2024

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

Legal News

Table of contents

Main provisions
Mixed-use exemption on collective enfranchisement claims
Abolition of ‘marriage value’
When will the Act take effect?
Ground rent reform
Further leasehold reform
Osborne Clarke comment

Article summary

<...Rushed pre-election manoeuvring in the closing days of the parliamentary term produced significant legislative casualties. Once a UK general election for 4 July was declared, Parliament entered a two-day ‘wash up’ to either push through draft measures or abandon them before prorogation on 24 May (with dissolution following on 30 May). Tenant organisations will be disheartened that certain bills, notably the Renters (Reform) Bill, fell; yet the much-trailed Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill squeaked onto the statute book as the final Act of the session. The new law seeks to strengthen rights and protections for long-leasehold homeowners in England and Wales, covering rights to manage, collective enfranchisement, lease extensions, and the oversight of freehold estate management. The drive towards leasehold reform is now underway, but owing to hurried cross-party deal-making to secure passage, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is defined as much by what it omits as by what it contains. Among the most contentious removals was the plan to abolish or cap ground rents for existing leaseholders. Even so, this and other gaps may prove temporary, regardless of who forms the next administration: Labour has been vocal about these matters and the substance of further reform to come...

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