England and Wales leasehold reform: why leaseholders must wait until 2027 for real change

If you own a leasehold flat and have been waiting for the promised revolution in your rights, you are not alone. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024, with its final parliamentary stages fast-tracked in the wash-up before the general election. Yet more than two years on, most of its provisions still are not in force, and the earliest meaningful implementation is now expected from 2027. For leaseholders across England and Wales, the question is no longer whether reform is coming, but when it will actually touch their lives.

The act itself is substantial. It takes forward many of the Law Commission's 2020 recommendations and delivers on commitments first made in the Conservative government's 2017 housing white paper to improve consumer choice and fairness in leasehold. Among its most significant measures is a standard method for calculating the cost of a statutory lease extension or freehold purchase, with marriage value removed from the calculations entirely. It also gives the Secretary of State new powers to prescribe the deferment and capitalisation rates used in those sums, and strengthens the rights of homeowners on private and mixed-tenure estates. It builds on the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which already abolished ground rents on most new residential leaseholds.

The road from Royal Assent to implementation, however, has been anything but smooth. Many provisions require consultation and secondary legislation before they can commence, and the process of setting the crucial valuation rates was delayed by legal challenges from groups of freeholders. The High Court dismissed those challenges on 24 October 2025, but the Court of Appeal has since granted five groups of freeholders permission to appeal. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has said the government will defend any appeals tenaciously, but the litigation adds yet another layer of uncertainty. The consultation on the rates itself closes on 23 September 2026, after which they must be set out in secondary legislation.

There are also practical problems to fix. The government has acknowledged technical flaws in the 2024 act that must be rectified before the freehold purchase and lease extension provisions can be implemented, and it intends to do so through a new piece of legislation: the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. Labour's 2024 manifesto pledged to bring the feudal leasehold system to an end, and the King's Speech 2026 confirmed the bill will be introduced in the 2026-27 parliamentary session. A draft version, published on 27 January 2026, has been scrutinised by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, whose report of 27 May 2026 called it a significant step towards giving leaseholders greater control of their buildings but urged the government to go further and faster on commonhold.

The wider reform agenda is moving in parallel. The government has consulted on mandatory professional qualifications for managing agents in England, with views also sought on whether Wales should follow suit; that consultation closed on 26 September 2025 and a response is expected in due course. The government has also committed to implementing the remaining Law Commission recommendations on the right to manage in this parliament, though that will require further primary legislation. In the meantime, leaseholders weighing up whether to extend their lease now or wait can turn to guidance from the Leasehold Advisory Service and a government Plain English explainer.

Wales is on a similar but not identical track. Most provisions of the 2024 act apply there, and the Welsh Government will introduce its own subordinate legislation to implement them. Jayne Bryant, then Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, updated the Senedd on leasehold reform on 7 March 2025 and commented on the draft bill on 30 January 2026, and Cardiff continues to work closely with Westminster. Leaseholders should note, though, that some notice and document requirements differ between the two nations.

For readers, the practical message is one of patience mixed with preparation. Renters and leaseholders hoping to extend a lease or buy their freehold cheaply should follow the rates consultation and the progress of the new bill closely, because the financial arithmetic of enfranchisement could shift significantly once the new method and prescribed rates take effect. Freeholders, meanwhile, face a regulatory environment that is tightening on every front, from valuation rules to the professionalisation of managing agents. Reform is finally within sight, but with secondary legislation due in 2026 and implementation from 2027 at the earliest, the feudal system leaseholders were promised the end of still has some life left in it yet.