
Homehold managing director Linz Darling celebrates UK Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook delivering on a promise to implement a provision of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 that requires flats to be owned for two years before granting a lease extension.
Sirs,
Matthew Pennycook posting on X (formerly Twitter) has signed a regulation removing the requirement for a flat owner to have owned a flat for two years before they can extend their lease fulfils a promise made by the UK’s current government.
The Housing Minister has today signed the regulations implementing the first part of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 that affects lease extensions and freehold purchases.
According to hist post, from the end of January a leaseholder will no longer have had to own their property for two years before they can extend the lease of their flat or purchase the freehold to their house.
While this is a welcome development, removing the ownership condition is a drop in the ocean in terms of what is needed from leasehold reform. It is a small change which will benefit a small proportion of leaseholders.
We estimate that hundreds of thousands of leaseholders are waiting for the more significant changes to the lease extension regime which have been promised to make it “cheaper and easier” for them to extend their leases.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 has already set out these changes but they are not yet in force. Despite this legislation receiving Royal Assent in May 2024 – now eight months ago – the Government intends to run a further consultation on some of the important provisions. They don’t intend to run this consultation until the Summer, and this creates a further delay which is unwarranted and unwelcome.
For leaseholders waiting for leasehold reform, they have now had successive governments promise reforms which always seem tantalisingly close, but never actually seem to arrive.
We need the Labour Government to bring forward the consultation, and commit to swiftly implementing the legislation.
Linz Darling
Managing Director,