What the 2024 leasehold law has changed so far, and what is still waiting

Owning a leasehold flat means owning the right to live in it for a fixed number of years, under a lease with a landlord who usually owns the building. Two regular costs come with it. Ground rent is a payment to the landlord set by the lease. The service charge pays for running the building: insurance, cleaning, repairs, lifts, the roof. Both can be the subject of long arguments.

The 2024 Act was designed to change much of this, but an Act of Parliament and the law in force are not the same thing. Most of its sections only take effect when the government makes commencement regulations, and as of 2 November 2026 only a handful have been made. Here is where things stand.

What the 2024 Act has changed so far

According to legislation.gov.uk, three sets of commencement regulations had been made under the Act by autumn 2026. The changes already in force for leaseholders in England and Wales include:

• No two-year wait before extending a lease or buying the freehold. Since 31 January 2025, leaseholders no longer need to have owned their lease for two years before making a claim.
• Easier Right to Manage. Since 3 March 2025, buildings with up to 50% non-residential space (previously 25%) can qualify, and leaseholders forming a Right to Manage company are generally no longer liable for the landlord’s costs of the claim.
• Building-safety provisions, in force since 2024, including wider remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, and rules on recovering certain legal costs.

What is still waiting

The parts most leaseholders read about are not in force. That includes the ban on new leasehold houses, the new method for calculating the price of a lease extension or freehold purchase (including the end of “marriage value”), standard 990-year lease extensions, the right to swap an existing ground rent for a peppercorn on extension, and the whole Part 4 package on service charges: standard bills, annual reports and new limits on recovering legal costs.

The government has said it plans to commence some of the service charge transparency measures with notice periods, starting in 2027, and to correct some flaws in the Act through a new bill. It published a draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill in January 2026 that would cap ground rents in existing leases at £250 a year, falling to a peppercorn after 40 years, but that bill had not been introduced to Parliament at the time of writing, and the government has said such a cap could take effect in late 2028 at the earliest. These are plans, not law.

Summary of commencement shown on legislation.gov.uk and government statements. Wales and England can differ in detail; Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate systems.

Ground rent: the rules that apply now

GOV.UK sets out the current position. If your lease was granted before 30 June 2022, you do not have to pay ground rent unless the landlord has sent a formal written demand for it. The landlord can recover unpaid ground rent going back six years, and can only increase it if you agree or the lease allows it. If your lease was granted on or after 30 June 2022, you usually cannot be charged more than a peppercorn ground rent, which has no monetary value. Buying an existing lease after that date does not change the ground rent already written into it.

Service charges: the rights you already have

Even before Part 4 of the 2024 Act takes effect, leaseholders have well-established rights under older law. GOV.UK lists them:

• the right to ask for a summary showing how the service charge is worked out and what it is spent on, and to see supporting paperwork such as receipts. A landlord who does not provide this commits a criminal offence;
• the right to a summary of the buildings insurance policy, and to challenge its cost at a tribunal if you think it unreasonable;
• the right to be consulted, under a “Section 20” consultation, before work costing you more than £250, or long-term agreements costing more than £100 a year;
• the right to apply to a tribunal if you think a charge is unreasonable or the work unsatisfactory, unless you have already agreed to pay it or it is a fixed charge.

Doing the sums

An illustrative case. A block of 20 flats needs roof work costing £30,000, split equally. Each leaseholder’s share is £1,500, well above the £250 threshold, so the landlord must run a Section 20 consultation first. If it does not consult properly, the amount it can recover from each leaseholder can be limited, which is why the Leasehold Advisory Service is a good first call before paying a disputed bill.

Buildings insurance in the service charge

Buildings insurance is usually arranged by the landlord and passed on through the service charge. The Financial Conduct Authority says that if your service charge rises because of higher insurance costs, you can ask the managing agent to explain the increase, and that some agents are FCA-regulated or act for a regulated firm, which you can check on the Financial Services Register.

Who this matters for, and what to check

These rules matter for anyone owning or buying a leasehold flat or house in England and Wales, and for families helping a parent who lives in a leasehold or retirement flat. Useful checks are: when your lease was granted (before or after 30 June 2022); how many years are left, since extending becomes noticeably more expensive below 80 years according to GOV.UK; what the lease says about ground rent increases; and whether the last service charge demand came with a summary of rights and obligations. Free advice is available from the Leasehold Advisory Service. The remaining lease length also matters to lenders, whether for an ordinary remortgage or for borrowing later in life through a lifetime mortgage.

The short version

The 2024 Act is law, but only a small part of it is in force: the end of the two-year wait, easier Right to Manage and some building-safety rules. The big changes to valuations, service charge bills and ground rent caps are still waiting for commencement or for a new bill. Meanwhile, leaseholders already have solid rights to information, consultation and challenge. If a mortgage on the flat is due for renewal, our guide to what happens when a fixed rate ends covers that side.