Plain English explainer: Extending your lease or buying your freehold? It's getting cheaper and easier
Published 15 July 2026
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/leasehold-enfranchisement-valuation-rates/plain-english-explainer-extending-your-lease-or-buying-your-freehold-its-getting-cheaper-and-easier
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will make it cheaper and easier to extend your lease or buy your freehold. This means:
- you pay your own process costs (conveyancer and valuer costs), but not your freeholder’s – saving you hundreds or even thousands of pounds
- you can extend your lease by 990 years with no ground rent – giving you long-term security in your home
You may pay a lower upfront price because the new law:
- removes “marriage value” costs – cutting the price significantly for leases with 80 years or fewer remaining
- caps ground rent (where used for the calculation of the cost of buying your freehold or extending your lease) at 0.1% of the property value – reducing the price where ground rents are high or rising.
When will these changes go live?
We intend to bring these changes into force as soon as possible. This requires the following steps:
- consulting on certain matters (see below) and setting out the technical details in secondary legislation (known as regulations)
- fixing issues in the 2024 Act through a forthcoming Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
What are the consultations about?
Valuation rates
We are consulting on which rates should be used to calculate the upfront price, rather than leaving this to valuers or the courts. The rates will be set in regulations and make the process more certain, faster and reduce the costs spent on valuers.
Process cost exceptions
In limited cases, some leaseholders may need to pay a fixed contribution towards the freeholder’s costs. We are consulting on what the set amounts should be and will then set them in regulations.
What else is going on?
Court case
A number of freeholders challenged certain reforms relating to enfranchisement in the High Court. The government won in the High Court, but the decision is under appeal. We are defending the appeal while continuing to implement the 2024 Act.
A wider ground rent cap
In January 2026, we set out proposals to cap ground rent in older residential leases at £250 per year, changing to a peppercorn (effectively zero) after 40 years. These proposals will be included in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. If approved by Parliament (i.e. passed into law), the cap could further reduce the upfront price of extending a lease or buying the freehold.
What do the changes mean for me?
All leases vary, for example in their length, ground rent and how it changes over time. Your personal circumstances will also affect your options. You can contact the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) for free, independent advice tailored to your situation on extending your lease or buying your freehold: https://www.lease-advice.org/.