“Draft legislation will be published on leasehold and commonhold reform ” – this was the fleeting reference to leasehold reform that was included in the King’s Speech - delivered on 17 July 2024, being the first for the new Labour Government.

Thankfully, the briefing note published by the Prime Minister’s Office soon after the King’s Speech provided more of an insight into what this means – and it looks like significant leasehold reform is in the offing with the introduction of a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.

Repeating almost exactly the wording of the Labour Party manifesto, the briefing note confirms that the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill will deal with the following five key enfranchisement points:

It will:

  1. Enact remaining Law Commission recommendations - to bolster leaseholders’ rights to extend their leases, buy their freeholders and take over the management functions of their buildings.
  2. Tackle existing ground rents - with an intention to regularise these so that leaseholders avoid facing unaffordable costs; ensuring that their homes are more affordable and marketable.
  3. Reinvigorate commonhold – by modernising the legal framework and restricting the sale of new leasehold flats, to ensure that future generations benefit from absolute home ownership. 
  4. Bring “fleecehold” to an end – by implementing new protections for homeowners on private estates.
  5. Implement the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 - in an attempt to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes.  The briefing note confirms that the Government will “act quickly” to do this, which is pleasing although still frustratingly vague.

All of this clearly confirms Labour’s commitment not only to “complete” the process of leasehold reform started by the last Government but also to take it much further.

Whilst this is all encouraging, at this stage, there is of course no roadmap for how any of it can or will be done. 

With the promise of further (much needed) consultation on the best way of achieving a shift to commonhold, and on how best to implement new protections to bring the injustice of the “fleecehold” system to an end, it doesn’t feel like any radical changes will be imminent.

We will just have to wait and see…again!