Leasehold is the area of property law where secondary coverage is least reliable. A great deal of what is published about the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 describes provisions that have never been commenced, and repeats them as current law. The defence is to read the primary source. This hub lists the ones that matter, says what each one settles, and points to our own guides where the detail lives. It is general information, not advice for your specific situation.

Start here: free, independent advice

  • The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE). Government funded, free, and independent of both freeholders and managing agents. It runs an advice line and publishes plain-English guidance on extensions, enfranchisement, right to manage and service charges. One caveat: guidance pages written before March 2025 can predate the right to manage reforms, so check the date on anything you rely on.
  • gov.uk: leasehold property. The official overview of what leasehold is, what a leaseholder is responsible for, extending a lease, buying the freehold and challenging service charges. Short, correct and a reasonable orientation before you read the statute.

The statutes, and what each one settles

Flats: Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/28. The source of both flat rights. Chapter I is collective enfranchisement: section 1 the right, section 13 the initial notice, section 32 and Schedule 6 the price. Chapter II is the individual lease extension: section 39 the right, section 42 the initial notice, section 56 the obligation to grant, Schedule 13 the valuation. Section 60 is the provision that makes the leaseholder pay the freeholder's reasonable costs, and it is still in force because its repeal has not been commenced.

Houses: Leasehold Reform Act 1967

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/88. Section 1 entitlement, section 2 the definition of a house, section 3 long tenancy, section 9 the purchase price formula for buying the freehold, and sections 14 and 15 the 50-year extension at a modern ground rent that almost nobody takes.

Management: Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15. Part 2 Chapter 1, sections 71 to 90, is the right to manage. Section 73 requires a private company limited by guarantee, section 79 sets the membership threshold at qualifying tenants of at least half the flats, section 80 sets the notice periods, section 84 the counter-notice, and section 90 the acquisition date. Read it alongside the 2024 Act amendments, which are in force.

Service charges: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70. Section 18 defines a service charge, section 19 imposes the reasonableness limit, section 20 requires consultation, section 20B is the 18-month time limit on demands, section 20C protects against the landlord recovering its litigation costs through the service charge, sections 21 and 22 are the information and inspection rights, and section 27A gives the tribunal jurisdiction over liability. This is the operative regime, because the 2024 Act transparency provisions are not in force.

Ground rent: Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/1. Section 1 regulated leases, section 2 the exceptions including statutory extensions, section 3 the prohibition, section 4 the permitted peppercorn, section 7 the automatic conversion of a prohibited term, and section 9 the penalties of between £500 and £30,000 per breach. It applies to new leases only.

Reform: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/22. Read the Act, then read the commencement instruments below, because the two do not say the same thing. Part 2 covers enfranchisement and extension, including the marriage value abolition and the 990-year term. Part 4, sections 53 to 71, covers the regulation of leasehold, including the service charge transparency block at sections 53 to 58.

The commencement instruments: the part everyone skips

Three, and only three, commencement instruments have been made under the 2024 Act as at August 2026. If a provision is not brought into force by one of these, it is not law, whatever the Act says.

  • SI 2024/1018. In force 31 October 2024. Building safety provisions, sections 114 to 116 and section 120. It expressly does not commence any provision of Part 4.
  • SI 2025/57. Commences section 27, from January 2025. The two-year qualifying ownership requirement fell away at this point, so a buyer can serve an extension notice on the day of completion.
  • SI 2025/131. Commencement No. 3, in force 3 March 2025. Sections 49 to 52 and a narrow part of section 64: the right to manage reforms, including the 50% non-residential limit, the costs changes and the move to the First-tier Tribunal as first instance.

There is no Commencement No. 4 or later. That is why marriage value, the 990-year term, prescribed valuation rates, the section 60 costs repeal and service charge transparency are all still on the page rather than in the law.

Secondary legislation worth knowing

  • SI 2022/694. Commences the Ground Rent Act on 30 June 2022, and on 1 April 2023 for retirement home leases. Cite this rather than a secondary summary, because commencement dates for this Act are frequently reported wrongly.
  • SI 2003/1987. The service charge consultation requirements. Regulation 6 sets the qualifying works threshold at more than £250 per tenant, regulation 4(1) the qualifying long term agreement threshold at more than £100 per tenant per accounting period. Both are per tenant.
  • SI 2009/2767, as amended by SI 2025/130. The prescribed model articles for a right to manage company in England. They apply automatically and override inconsistent bespoke articles. The 2025 amendment caps the landlord's votes at one third of those exercisable by qualifying tenants.
  • SI 2010/825. The prescribed forms for right to manage notices. They were not updated after the 2024 Act and remain the forms to use in England.
  • SI 2026/642. From 6 July 2026, the tribunal fee schedule. A section 27A service charge application costs £114 to issue and £227 for a hearing. Older figures still circulating are out of date.

Tax sources

  • Finance Act 2003 Schedule 17A. Paragraph 9 is the surrender and regrant rule that makes a lease extension a stamp duty land tax event on the premium.
  • Finance Act 2003 section 74. The special calculation for collective enfranchisement: divide by the number of qualifying flats, apply the rates, multiply back up.
  • HMRC TSEM5710. Flat management companies and the section 42 trust status of service charge money.
  • HMRC BIM24000. Mutual trading, which is the framework a resident-owned management company usually sits in.

Our guides

The pillar page, leasehold explained, carries the condensed in-force table and the summary of each right. The detail sits in these:

Reform status

Lease extension and enfranchisement

Right to manage

Service charges and ground rent

Get your own numbers run

The sources above will tell you what the law is. They will not tell you what your extension premium is, whether the 5% additional dwellings surcharge applies to it, what is deductible against the rent on a let flat, or what the premium does to the capital gains tax position when you eventually sell. Those are specific to your lease, your other property and your marginal rate. Before you serve a notice, get the valuation from a surveyor, the notices from a solicitor, and the tax checked by someone who looks at property returns every week.