Initial thoughts on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill

If, like me and many in my profession, you were unsurprised by the lack of detail you heard in the King’s Speech, we can only hope that follow up consultations by RICS, the British Property Federation, ALEP and others will untie some of the knots that those in government have overlooked, writes Clive Scrivener, Founder & Partner at Wimbledon based Chartered Surveyors Scrivener Tibbatts.

Here’s what Ian Taylor, Director of Policy, at the BPF said. We couldn’t say it any better ourselves: “This is a Bill of missed opportunity and stored up problems. It wants to improve the experience of leaseholders yet says nothing about their main day-to-day interaction with managing agents, who are unregulated.  It wants to scrap ground rents, yet says nothing about the disruption that will cause to everyday management, and building remediation efforts, as freeholders’ businesses become unviable.  Silence kicks commonhold into the long-grass, perhaps for ever.  And by raising the enfranchisement threshold on mixed-use property, it damages the mixed-use property investment market, as more landlords lose their development rights, and control of their property’s management, hurting levelling-up in the process.

“The Bill has some useful reform. Fairly apportioning legal costs, banning the sale of most leasehold houses, tightening up on insurance commissions, and extending redress are all sensible measures. Overall, however, it is a patchwork, and some way from the comprehensive reform suggested by the Law Commission.”

Lots still to work through…..​

If you would like to discuss something related to a property valuation please contact Clive Scrivener direct via email at Clive@scrivenertibbatts.co.uk or call 020 8971 2983.