The reforms in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 aim to give you more control over your building, make service charges and buildings insurance clearer and fairer, and reduce the cost of challenging unreasonable service charges.
| Area of change | Proposed change |
|---|---|
| Service charges transparency | Demands and service charge accounts must be in a standardised, easy-to-read format. Landlords will have to provide an annual report, giving information about the condition of the building and plans for major works. For relevant buildings, the service charge accounts will need to be accompanied by a report prepared by a qualified accountant. Leaseholders will also have new rights to request specified service charge and management information, including certain information going back up to 6 years. |
| Future demand notices (18 month rule) | A standardised format will be introduced for notices under Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. These notices tell leaseholders when service charge costs have been incurred that they may be billed for in future, after the standard 18 month time limit. |
| Buildings insurance | The government plans to reform the way building insurance costs are charged to leaseholders, including replacing unclear commission arrangements with a transparent and fair permitted insurance payment. |
| Administration charges | Landlords that plan to charge administration charges will have to publish details of their charges, in a standard format. |
| Challenging unreasonable charges | Landlords will need approval from a court or tribunal before they can add their legal costs of tribunal cases to the service charge. There will be a new right for leaseholders to apply to recover their own legal costs in some circumstances. |
| Redress schemes | Landlords who manage their own building will have to join a government-approved redress (complaints) scheme. |
| Right to manage and right to appoint a manager | New measures to reduce the costs, paperwork and time it takes for leaseholders to manage the building themselves or appoint their own agent. |
The government consulted on these proposed changes in 2025. The outcome of the consultation was published in July 2026. Leaseholders will start to see changes during 2027.
New regulations in October 2026 set out timings for introducing some of these changes in 3 stages:
- from 1 April 2027: the standardised format for future demand notices, rights to request service charge and management information, and the changes to recovering legal costs of tribunal cases
- from 1 November 2027: the standardised format for bills and accounts and the annual report for private landlords, the buildings insurance changes, and the duty to publish details of administration charges
- from 1 November 2028: the standardised format for bills and accounts and the annual report for social landlords
The full details, such as the formats for service charge demands, notices and the annual report, are not yet confirmed and will be set out in new regulations.
| Area of change | Proposed change |
|---|---|
| Administration charges | Administration charges to be capped. |
| Building management | A new independent regulator and a licensing regime for property agents. The regulator would be able to set standards of conduct. |
These possible future changes were announced in September 2026 but the details are not yet known.
What to do now?
Use your current rights to check and challenge charges – you have the right to request information about them and challenge unreasonable ones:
Check if you qualify for the right to manage your building and if you and your neighbours want to use it.
Get help resolving leasehold disputes between you and your landlord (freeholder) or their managing agents.
- Last updated:
- 5 November 2026
- Next review:
- 4 May 2027