Here is the angle. The government just confirmed the ban on new leasehold flats is not coming before 2029. That is a five-year window where leasehold continues to be the default tenure for flats in England and Wales. The opportunity for investors is hiding in plain sight.

What Pennycook Actually Said

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook addressed Parliament in April 2026 on leasehold reform. He said it is "highly likely that we don't switch on the ban in this parliament" (Mortgage Solutions, 29 April 2026). Parliament runs to approximately 2029.

He went further on full abolition. Pennycook said the outright abolition of around five million leases is "almost certainly impossible" (Mortgage Solutions, 29 April 2026). The complexity of existing titles and the mortgage market adjustment were his stated reasons.

The practical blockers he cited are significant. The mortgage market would need time to readjust to commonhold (a system where flat owners jointly own the building and land, rather than holding a time-limited lease). HM Land Registry would face the task of deleting millions of existing leasehold and freehold titles and replacing them with commonhold equivalents (Estate Agent Today, April 2026).

The draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill was published on 27 January 2026 and remains at draft stage. Its proposed measures include capping ground rent (the annual charge leaseholders pay to the freeholder) at £250 a year for existing leaseholders in England and Wales. It also proposes banning new leasehold flats in future and making commonhold the default tenure (Estate Agent Today, April 2026). None of these are law yet.

Why This Matters for the Five Million

Around five million properties in England and Wales are held on leasehold terms (Mortgage Solutions, 29 April 2026). For owners, the Pennycook admission stings. Labour came into office promising reform during this Parliament. The large parliamentary majority Labour holds made the delay harder to justify publicly.

Harry Scoffin, founder of campaign group Free Leaseholders, criticised the pace of progress given Labour's majority, according to Estate Agent Today (April 2026). Leaseholders waiting for ground rent relief or the right to convert to commonhold are looking at 2029 at the earliest. That is the soonest any legislation could pass, let alone take effect.

The ground rent cap of £250 a year is proposed, not confirmed. Leaseholders currently paying above that figure cannot plan around it yet. Similarly, the right to convert a building to commonhold tenure exists in the draft Bill but is not actionable until the Bill becomes law.

The Opportunity Window for Buyers

Leasehold flats typically trade at a discount to equivalent freehold properties. That discount has widened in some markets as buyers have priced in uncertainty about future reform. The government admitting reform is delayed - rather than dead - is a different signal to markets.

The draft Bill's ground rent cap at £250 and the ban on new leasehold flats are still on the table as proposed measures. If they pass, existing leasehold flats in blocks where the ground rent sits near or below £250 will look more attractive retrospectively. The margin on those assets improves if the cap lands.

Watch this area: leasehold flats in blocks where residents are already organised around a right-to-manage (RTM) company, or where a share of freehold structure is already partially in place. These are the blocks where commonhold conversion, if and when it becomes available, will happen fastest and at lowest cost. Buying into a well-organised block now - at a discount driven by general leasehold uncertainty - could mean the discount unwinds before the decade is out.

You may wish to look at the ground rent terms on any leasehold flat you are considering. Blocks with low ground rents already close to the proposed £250 cap face less disruption from future reform than those with escalating clauses or high base rents. The latter carry more residual risk if the reform timetable slips further.