Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will bring forward reforms designed to modernise, strengthen and reinvigorate the commonhold and leasehold framework.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
The government has published a draft Bill which, when implemented, will deliver its manifesto and King’s Speech commitments to reinvigorate and reform the commonhold model, making it easier for existing leaseholders to convert to commonhold should they wish to do so, and banning the use of leasehold for most new flats.
The Bill will also support existing leaseholders by capping ground rents at £250 a year, changing to a peppercorn after 40 years, and by abolishing the draconian threat of forfeiture. In place of forfeiture, the Bill will introduce a new, fairer and more proportionate lease enforcement scheme benefitting both leaseholders and landlords. In addition, the Bill will tackle similarly harsh enforcement powers that apply to estate rentcharges on freehold estates by repealing those powers as they relate to estate rentcharges.
Taken together, these reforms will significantly improve the current system for the 5 million existing leasehold properties and their owners, while ensuring a better deal for future generations of homeowners in England and Wales. The Bill will give homeowners much greater security and control over their homes through access to fit for purpose and modern commonhold ownership.
The documents include:
- Ground rent policy statement
- Draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill command paper
- Delegated Powers Memorandum
- Guide to the Bill
- Draft Impact Assessment
- Moving to Commonhold: consultation on banning leasehold for new flats
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee launched their pre legislative scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill on 4 February 2026.
Updates to this page
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Added: Impact assessment, Annex 1, Annex 2, Annex 3, Annex 4, Annex 5, Technical Annex.
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The Addressing unregulated and unaffordable ground rent: policy statement was updated to include revisions to Table 3 accounting for a typographical error and to make use of figures from updated analysis. In the ‘Mean Baseline EHS (£)’ column, 1,239 was changed to 1,080 and 92 was changed to 82. In the ‘Median Baseline EHS (£)’ column, 57 was changed to 500. These changes apply to Table 3 only and do not affect the modelling or the policy impacts presented.
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First published.