Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 – Where are we now?
The previous government’s Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (“the Act”) was passed on 24 May 2024 in the wash-up period prior to the dissolution of the last parliament.
The Act introduced what is considered a necessary set of reforms that will provide immediate relief to those leaseholders and residential freeholders subject to unfair and unreasonable practices.
The King’s Speech in July 2024 stated that it was the Government’s intention to act as quickly as possible to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes by implementing its various provisions. However, not much has happened since then.
The Government has stated its wants to ensure that the measures brought into force under the Act are to the benefit of leaseholders and residential freeholders. Matthew Pennycock (the Housing Minister) feels that the Act contains a small number of specific but serious flaws which would prevent certain provisions from operating as intended and therefore need to be rectified.
As such, the Government has said the Act requires an extensive programme of detailed primary and secondary legislation, which will involve yet more consultations; which will take time and therefore delay the Act coming into force.
With a view to effectively implementing the Act as quickly as possible, the government’s intended timetable to bring about provisions of the Act is as follows:
- January 2025 – the removal of the ‘2-year rule’. This will mean that leaseholders will no longer have to wait two years after purchasing their property before exercising rights to extend their lease or buy their freehold, giving more leaseholders control over their properties from the outset.
- Spring 2025 – the Right To Manage provisions (expanding access, reforming its costs and voting rights).
- Summer 2025 – consultation on capitalisation rate and deferment rate
- After Summer 2025 – primary legislation (amending errors in the Act) and secondary legislation to commence the Act (including rates)
To summarise, there is no end date in sight as to when the Act will come into force in full and/or in what form. It remains a waiting game.
If you are a tenant looking to extend your lease, or if you are a Landlord on the receiving end of a request to extend a lease, Taylor Walton have a designated Commercial Property Department with experienced solicitors that will be able to help you with what is becoming an ever increasing complex area of law. To make contact with one of the team please send us your details via our online form.
Disclaimer: General Information Provided Only
Please note that the contents of this article are intended solely for general information purposes and should not be considered as legal advice. We cannot be held responsible for any loss resulting from actions or inactions taken based on this article.
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