4 June 2024
On Friday 24 May 2024, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act received Royal Assent. The Act delivers a package of reforms, including to enfranchisement, the Right to Manage, access to redress and the way service charges work. It also includes measures to ban new leasehold houses and transform the consumer rights of homeowners on freehold estates.
Details on commencement of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act are set out in Section 124. A small number of provisions come into force on 24 July, two months after Royal Assent. These are:
- measures relating to the remedy for rentcharge arrears;
- the repeal of Section 125 of the Building Safety Act 2022;
- new procedures under the 2022 Act where an insolvency practitioner is appointed for a higher-risk or relevant building;
- a measure which allows the recovery of legal and other professional service costs via the service charge, where they are incurred by a resident management company or right to manage company in connection with obtaining remediation contribution orders under that 2022 Act.
The remainder of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will come into effect at the discretion of the next Government. As these reforms are complex, implementation will likely be done in stages. Lengthy secondary legislation will be needed for some reforms.
Therefore, LEASE’s published advice and guidance remains up to date and accurate. The current laws on leasehold remain for now. We will update our advice and guidance as and when changes come into force.
If you are a leaseholder and considering your next steps, you may find the following useful.
