Strengthening Leaseholder Protections: What’s Changing?

On 4 July 2025, the Government is launching a 12‑week consultation aimed at implementing parts of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. The consultation is broken down into three areas, and it can be found here

A summary of the areas and issues being consulted on is as follows:

Driving up transparency of fees and charges

1. Requiring landlords to provide an annual report to give leaseholders key information about their building and the cost of maintaining it.
2. New standardised service charge demand forms to help leaseholders better understand the demands they receive.
3. Requiring landlords to issue a ‘future service charge demand notice’. The notice will require landlords to provide detailed information to leaseholders about the total cost of the bill, their contribution towards that cost, and when they might expect to receive the demand.
4. Allowing leaseholders to see additional service charge information, such as receipts or invoices of particular works or services, or copies of a fire risk assessment for the building.
5. Extending leaseholder rights such as the proposed right to an annual report to tenants in social housing who pay service charge.
6. Requiring landlords to publish an administration charge schedule, showing what charges leaseholders may be liable to pay, what those charges will be, or if it is not possible to determine the amount in advance, how the charge will be calculated. 
7. Requiring landlords to provide additional insurance information to leaseholders, particularly information stipulated by the FCA concerning commissions and conflicts of interest.
8. Requiring landlords of four or more dwellings to provide service charge account information in a new standardised format.
9. Changing to the litigation costs regime, in particular:
   • Requiring that the landlord, if they wish to recover their litigation costs from the leaseholder through the service charge or as an administration charge, to first make an application to the relevant tribunal or court for approval (and exemptions to this).
   • Introducing a new right for leaseholders to be able to apply to the relevant tribunal or court to recover their litigation costs from the landlord in certain legal proceedings.
   • Proposals to suspend the requirement for resident-led buildings to apply to the court or tribunal to recover the litigation costs via the service charge until a later point, so that they are able to draw upon such funds to bring a case in the first place.

New additional service charge reforms

1. Making a reserve fund mandatory in both new and existing leases.
2. Reviewing the scope of what should be included within a major works s.20 consultation, in particular:
   • Increasing the financial threshold from £250 to a higher figure.
   • Changing the types of works or contracts to which the consultation process should apply. For example, in more dynamic markets where prices can change quickly (such as around energy tariffs), the time taken to consult may risk acting against the interests of leaseholders by preventing them from securing the best deal available.
   • Including the use of standardised forms and notices with specified information included to improve leaseholder understanding
3. Considering whether reform or new protections are required for leaseholder money held by landlords or managing agents acting on their behalf in general service charge accounts and in reserve funds. 
4. Extending protections such as the ability to challenge unfair service charge demands to leaseholders paying fixed service charges (such as those in retirement leasehold housing).
5. Giving leaseholders more say over the appointment of a managing agent more generally, in particular:
   • Whether leaseholders could have new rights to veto the appointment of a particular managing agent or make representations to replace an existing managing agent that they were dissatisfied with.
   • Options to support the vetoing or switching (during an existing contract) of a managing agent.
6. Opportunities for greater digitalisation of information provision and other related services, as well as providing safeguards so all leaseholders can access the information they need.

Regulation of managing agents:

Requiring mandatory minimum qualifications for managing agents by:

1. Requiring mandatory minimum qualifications for managing agents by:
   • Requiring them to join a new designated professional body or bodies that would ensure that agents had achieved qualifications and could act where they had not;
   • Giving the UK Government-approved redress schemes a statutory role in the implementation of qualifications; or
   • Making local authorities solely responsible for enforcement.
2. Requiring continual professional development for managing agents.

Why now?

The Government is continuing with its manifesto pledge to end the leasehold system and ensuring that commonhold becomes the default system. Later this year, the Government intends to publish its first draft of the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.

However, this does nothing to address the issues that leaseholders currently face. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains a number of provisions designed to standardise and increase the transparency of service charges so that leaseholders are able to better scrutinise and challenge costs if they consider them to be unreasonable. By implementing the Act, it can provide leaseholders with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes.

The consultation closes on 26 September 2025 and all interested parties are encouraged to respond.

How Pinney Talfourd can help

Our expert Property Litigation and Leasehold teams can help landlords, managing agents, and leaseholders navigate the upcoming changes to leasehold law with confidence. To speak to a member of the team, please call 01708 511 000.