The government has today published the output to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s report as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
This parliamentary enquiry makes recommendations before the Bill moves to be put before parliament, most likely in the autumn session of this year, after the summer recess.
There are several points to note:
£250 cap on ground rent
The Committee, perhaps unsurprisingly, recommends that the adoption of the £250 cap for ground rents under existing leases and their recommendation is that this is ‘baked in’ to the legislation, so as to apply two months after commencement.
Regarding the sunset clause for future ground rents, their recommendation is that the relevant date is set twenty years after commencement, rather than forty years.
The Law Commission’s remaining recommendations
The Committee makes the point that it is ‘disappointing’ that the government has not sought to bring through a number of the Law Commission’s other recommendations for the reform of the law in relation to right to manage and enfranchisement.
The report contains a schedule setting out suggested amendments to the legislation following input from Professor Nick Hopkins (formerly of the Law Commission) as to areas where new draft could take account of these proposed changes. These are quite extensive and, if adopted, would see a significant number of new clauses added to the draft bill.
Commonhold to be the default tenure for enfranchisement
It is also the Committee’s recommendation that the output of a collective enfranchisement will be conversion to commonhold, rather than a two-step process that the bill currently envisages. We will have to see how that progresses through the legislative process.
Regulation of managing agents
The Committee recommends the creation of a new independent regulator, indicating it believes that theindustry is not fit to regulate itself for potential reasons of conflict, and that they seek to implement the recommendations of Lord Best in his 2019 report.
Regarding the timeline for implementation, the government is required to provide an initial response to the recommendations in the Committee’s report within two months and the Committee asks that the Bill be introduced as a final bill to parliament in autumn 2026, and for a second reading to be scheduled before the November recess.
The aim being to ensure that the Bill receives final royal assent mid-2027, so that some of the provisions, including the cap on ground rent, can come into force late in 2027.
Clearly, the Committee’s work has been to hold the government to account and to make a number of recommendations which are quite extensive and go further than the draft bill. We will have to see how government responds to this challenge and in particular, the addition of new provisions. In the meantime, we await seeing the proposed fixes to LAFRA 2024, which we know also need to be included in order for the further progress of the implementation of that Act.
Mark Chick is the Joint Head of our expert Landlord & Tenant team.
If you have a query concerning leasehold property, then please contact the experts at Bishop & Sewell’s Landlord & Tenant team by emailing leasehold@bishopandsewell.co.uk or call on 020 7631 4141.
The above is accurate as at 27 May 2026.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
