Landlords who buy leasehold apartments will next month be able to extend the property’s lease without having to wait two years, as it presently the case.
This change has been announced by housing minister Matthew Pennycook and follows his sign-off on new regulations that bring in the first changes within the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act.
This was a Tory initiative that was rushed through just before the General Election in May as part of the pre-election ‘wash up’.
Pennycook has also signed off a second regulation that will enable leaseholders of houses to extend their lease or buy their freehold.
“The work continues to switch on the measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act,” he said. Last last year he also drove home his desire to get the reforms 'done' saying: "For far too many leaseholders, the reality of home ownership has fallen woefully short of the dream – their lives marked by an intermittent, if not constant, struggle with punitive and escalating ground rents; unjustified permissions and administration fees; unreasonable or extortionate charges; and onerous conditions imposed with little or no consultation. This is not what home ownership should entail”.
But the new regulations are just two of the ‘easy wins’ and Pennycook has a significant hill to climb before all the Act’s provisions, which are designed to make the leasehold system fairer, less complicated and cheaper for owners to navigate, are implemented.
“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,” says Linz Darlington (pictured), MD of Lease Extension Specialists Homehold.
“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 Government intends to run even more consultations on some of the important provisions, which Darlington describes as creating further delay and being “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,” she adds.
“We need the Labour Government to bring forward the consultation and commit to swiftly implementing the legislation."
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