“Feudal” leasehold system to be abolished 

The Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has pledged to end the “feudal-era” leasehold system in England and Wales during the current parliament. 

Mr Pennycook said he was committed to changing the system, which applies to five million homes in England, following complaints about increases to service charges and lack of action to address repairs. A large proportion of London’s flats and apartments are leasehold. 

A white paper published on 3 March 2025 seeks to ban the sale of new leasehold flats and “reinvigorate” the alternative commonhold system of property ownership. 

Details of how the new system would work will be included in a draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill to be published later in the year. 

People buying a leasehold flat are buying the right to occupy it for a period set out in their lease. The land the property sits on is owned by a freeholder or landlord. Extending a lease can be complex and expensive. 

Mr Pennycook said: “This arrangement has been in place for centuries and is essentially, in some ways, unchanged. It’s land owned by someone else who grants the right of use of that land to another person. That is why it’s inherently unfair. That is why, in many ways, leaseholders are second-class homeowners – that’s what we’ve got to change.” 

The move follows an attempt to reform leasehold by Michael Gove, housing secretary under the previous government. A bill passed at the end of the last parliament was seen as a watered down version of Mr Gove’s original plans. 

The new white paper contains suggestions for running buildings under commonhold including strict design rules to give confidence to mortgage lenders that they will not fall into disrepair. 

Read more about this story on the Guardian and BBC websites.