Leasehold Property law. Personally delivered.
Leasehold Property law. Personally delivered.
Marriage value, the 50% limit, leasebacks and costs — what the reform Bill would change for freehold purchases, and the realistic timetable.
Reviewed 25 July 2026
Six changes to collective enfranchisement are on the statute book or in draft. Not one of them is in force.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would make six material changes to collective enfranchisement. The non-residential limit rises from 25% to 50%. Marriage value is abolished. Each party bears its own process costs, rather than leaseholders paying the freeholder's. Leaseholders gain a right to require leasebacks of non-participating flats, which reduces the price. The twelve-month bar following a withdrawn claim goes. And a freeholder can no longer defeat a claim on redevelopment grounds.
Taken together that is a significant rebalancing, and for buildings with short leases or substantial commercial space it would change the arithmetic considerably.
None of it is commenced. A draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was published on 27 January 2026, and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee reported on it in May, concluding that it was a significant step but needed changes and calling for the final Bill to be introduced in the autumn. The Government's response was due by late July and the Housing Minister wrote to the Committee confirming it would not be met.
Further primary legislation is needed in any event, because the 2024 Act contains technical defects that prevent its enfranchisement provisions being switched on. In July 2026 the Government opened consultations on the valuation rates for the new Standard Valuation Method and on process costs, both closing in September. Royal Assent for the new Bill is not realistically expected before the middle of 2027, and the rates that will determine premiums remain unknown.
It depends on your building, and the answer is not the same for everyone. Where several participating leases are below eighty years, abolition of marriage value could reduce the price materially, and there is a real argument for patience. Where the building is between 25% and 50% non-residential, waiting may create an eligibility that does not exist today.
Against that: leases continue to shorten, service charges continue to be set by somebody else, and a difficult or absent freeholder is not made easier by legislation that has not arrived. A group with a building that needs work, or a freeholder who will not engage, frequently cannot afford to wait.
Establish whether the building qualifies today. Obtain a valuation on the current basis, so the decision is taken on figures rather than headlines. And get the group and its paperwork in order regardless — because the participation agreement, the company and the funding take the same time to assemble whether you serve this year or in 2028.
We can tell you what your freehold would cost under the present law, and what the proposed changes would be likely to do to that figure.
This article reflects our understanding of the position on 25 July 2026 and is general information rather than legal advice. The law in this area is changing: take advice on your own circumstances before relying on it.
Tell us what has happened and what you would like to achieve, and we will tell you plainly where you stand, what it is likely to cost and how long it will take.
