Goodbye to Leaseholds?

12th February 2026 | Asha Ngai | Residential Property, Leaseholds, Rent

In a bold move, the government is actively moving to phase out much of the traditional leasehold system in the United Kingdom. The government plans to legislate a ban on the sale of new leasehold flats once the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill is passed.

What is the intention of the Commonhold White Paper?

The aim is to make commonhold the default tenure for apartments going forward.  With this white paper, the Government intends to replace the traditional leasehold format with a more revitalised format allowing owners to jointly own and manage their building.

Furthermore, the aim is to make it easier for existing leaseholders to transition their building to commonhold by reducing the percentage of owners needed to agree.

What will happen to existing leaseholds?

It’s not an immediate, blanket ban on all existing leaseholds.  The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (now law) bans the creation of most new leasehold houses — meaning almost all new houses in England and Wales must be sold freehold instead of leasehold.

Existing leasehold homes are not being automatically abolished. Owners of existing leasehold flats and houses will still hold leaseholds, though reforms seek to improve their rights and protections and make it easier to convert to commonhold voluntarily.

Developers can still grant new leases in certain scenarios (e.g., replacements for expiring leases) until the formal ban on new leasehold flats comes into force.

What is the benefit of commonhold ownership?

In practical terms, here are the main benefits:

• You truly own your home (no ticking clock)

With commonhold, you own your flat outright and forever — there’s no lease that runs down over time, and no need (or cost) to extend it later. That alone removes a big source of stress and expense.

• No external landlord / freeholder

There’s no separate freeholder making profit from the building. Instead:

• Each flat owner owns their own unit
• All owners jointly own and control the building through a commonhold association

So decisions are made by the residents, not an outside investor.

• Fairer service charges

Because residents run things themselves (or appoint managing agents they choose):

• Service charges are based on actual costs, not profit
• Charges are more transparent
• You have real voting power over budgets and major works

This helps avoid issues like inflated fees or unnecessary projects.

• No ground rent

Commonhold has zero ground rent. That’s a big win compared to leasehold, where ground rent can exist even though you get nothing in return.

 

What next?

The consultation period end in April 2026 and further update will be expected then.

 

To find out more speak with Asha Ngai, or the Residential Property team.