Landlords Beware
Landlords beware; commercial leaseholders may get round restrictions in their lease to achieve residential use which brings the potential right to forcibly acquire the freehold (enfranchisement).
Landlords beware; commercial leaseholders may get round restrictions in their lease to achieve residential use which brings the potential right to forcibly acquire the freehold (enfranchisement).
The Government has now opened a consultation in this regard titled “Moving to commonhold: banning leasehold for new flats”.
The consultation forms part of the next phase of leasehold reform and sits alongside the ongoing implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (‘The 2024 Act’) and the recently published draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (‘The Bill’).
This seeks opinions from leaseholders, landlords and managing agents about how the Bill’s proposed ban on new residential leaseholds should be implemented in practice.
The Government has now brought into force a number of provisions under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, implementing parts of the Law Commission’s recommendations relating to the Right to Manage (RTM). These were commenced by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 3 March 2025.
While these reforms improve the existing RTM process in important ways, many of the more far-reaching recommendations remain outstanding and may be included in a future Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill. This raises the practical question for flat owners: should they proceed with an RTM claim now, or wait to see if further changes are made?