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It has been nearly ten years since the Leasehold: A Life Sentence report was published, launching a sustained Propertymark campaign. Despite the introduction of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024—of which only 10 of 125 sections have come into force—leaseholders continue to face significant financial pressures, rising and often unjustified service charges, and ongoing building safety concerns.
The UK Government has set out further reforms across housing, communities, and local government. Proposals affect leasehold, building safety, social housing, local authority standards, and tourism levies, all of which could impact local housing markets and influence the way councils, owners, agents and residents interact.
The UK Government has set out how it intends to ban the sale of new leasehold flats, expand the legal framework, and improve accessibility to make commonhold the default tenure for flats in both residential and mixed-use developments. Propertymark welcomes efforts to address the entrenched problems in the leasehold system, and we have put forward our recommendations for strengthening the draft legislation, ensuring the role of professional managing agents is recognised and supported, and the sector has adequate time to prepare.
Matthew Pennycook MP stated that leasehold remains a barrier to a fair and efficient property market and confirmed that the UK Government aims to ‘get the job done’ by the end of this Parliament, making commonhold the default tenure for new flats. However, he also stated that reform must be phased to avoid legal, administrative and market disruption — meaning the five million existing leases in England and Wales will not end immediately.