Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill: call for evidence

Aims of the Bill

The Bill’s main provisions would:

• make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders in houses and flats to extend their lease and buy the freehold.

• increase the standard lease extension term to 990 years, withground rent reduced to a peppercorn (zero financial value), upon payment of a premium.

• change the qualifying criteria to give more leaseholders the right to extend their lease, buy their freehold and take over management of their building.

• improve the transparency of service charges and ensure leaseholders receive key information on a regular basis.

• give leaseholders a new right to request information about service charges and the management of their building.

• improve the transparency of administration charges and buildings insurance commissions.

• ensure leaseholders are not subject to any unjustified legal costs and can claim their own legal costs from their freeholder.

• give freehold homeowners who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed-tenure residential estate the right to challenge the reasonableness of charges and the standard of services provided.

• improve the transparency of estate charges and ensure freehold homeowners receive key information on a regular basis.

• ensure a rentcharge owner is not able to take possession or grant a lease on a freehold property where the rentcharge remains unpaid for a short period of time.

Follow the progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 27 November 2023. The Bill’s second reading was held on 11 December 2023.

• Bills before Parliament: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill
• Read Explanatory Notes: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill
• House of Commons Library Briefing Paper

Oral evidence sessions for this Bill are expected to be held on 16 and 18 January.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration and possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course under Selection of Amendments on the Bill documents pages. Once the Committee has dealt with an amendment it will not revisit it.

The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee is expected to be on Tuesday 16 January and the Committee is scheduled to report by Thursday 1 February. However, please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 1 February. You are strongly advised to submit your written evidence as soon as possible.

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk

Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be found here (pdf, 1MB).

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