Law Commission recommendations being taken forward in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to improve the lives of millions of homeowners

Following its recent introduction, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill passed its second reading in Parliament on Monday, with unanimous cross-party support.

Significant aspects of the bill implement options and recommendations put forward by the Law Commission in its 2020 reports on enfranchisement and the right to manage. They include:

• reducing the price and costs payable to the landlord where a leaseholder exercises their right to extend their lease or purchase the freehold.
• expanding the scope of enfranchisement and the right to manage so that flat owners can together buy the freehold of premises or take over its management where up to 50% of the building is commercial space rather than the current limit of 25%.
• enabling leaseholders of both houses and flats to place the vast majority of a home’s value in their hands and avoid the need for further extensions by increasing lease extensions to 990 years with no ground rent payable, in place of shorter extensions of 90 or 50 years under the current law.

Professor Nick Hopkins, the Commissioner responsible for the Commission’s work on residential leasehold and commonhold, said:

“I am delighted that Law Commission recommendations to reform residential leasehold are being implemented by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill. They have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people who own leasehold homes and I look forward to the Bill’s continued passage through Parliament.”

Further details are available here.