Leasehold abolition has no date, but this consultation does

Leasehold abolition has no date. One piece of government machinery does. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is consulting on two rates. They will feed into what a leaseholder pays to extend a lease or buy the freehold. That happens once the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024's new valuation method is in force. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 21 October 2026 and applies to England and Wales (GOV.UK, updated 7 September 2026). If you let a flat, that price lands on your yield.

What is the leasehold enfranchisement consultation?

Leasehold means you own your flat for a set number of years while someone else owns the building. Enfranchisement is your legal right to change that, by extending the lease or buying the freehold (outright ownership of the building and land). The consultation runs for 14 weeks (GOV.UK).

It uses powers in the 2024 Act that let the Secretary of State set two numbers. The capitalisation rate values the ground rent income the freeholder gives up, and the deferment rate values getting the flat back at the end of the lease. Both feed into the Act's Standard Valuation Method, which MHCLG calls the compulsory method for determining the premium. They will apply only to leases with more than five years unexpired (GOV.UK). If you hold a short lease, our free lease extension calculator gives you a figure under today's rules while the consultation is open.

The government says it has switched on several of the Act's provisions, including building safety, the right to manage and the removal of the two-year ownership qualifying rule (GOV.UK). Owners of less than two years now qualify to buy their freehold or extend their lease. The valuation provisions are not among them. The Act provides for 990-year lease extensions at a peppercorn ground rent, a token rent worth nothing. It removes marriage value, the extra value created when a short lease and its freehold come together. It caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation at 0.1% of the freehold value. None of those three is in force.

Why campaigners say the abolition promise is stalling

Katie Kendrick OBE, Founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, told The Negotiator that leaseholders are seeing no promised change in legislation. "While ministers work behind the scenes, in plain sight millions of leaseholders remain trapped in a broken and exploitative system, facing rising costs, uncertainty and injustice," she said. She added that "complexity is not an excuse for delay".

Angela Rayner was asked on LBC Radio by Lewis Goodall whether Labour would abolish leasehold by the end of the Parliament. She said legislation would be "coming very soon". She added: "It will take time. It is complex. We are going to end that system."

The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published on 27 January 2026, applies to England and Wales (GOV.UK). It would ban leasehold for most new flats and make conversion to commonhold easier. Commonhold means flat owners own their flats outright and jointly run the building.

The draft would also cap ground rents at £250 a year, moving to a peppercorn after 40 years, and abolish forfeiture, a freeholder's power to take the lease back. It remains a draft in pre-legislative scrutiny, the examination MPs run before a Bill is introduced. The Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee launched that scrutiny on 4 February 2026 (GOV.UK). None of it is law, and no commencement date exists.

What it means for your yield and void risk

Leasehold remains the dominant tenure for flats in England and Wales, and ground rents and service charges have become contentious (PropertyWire). Service charges and ground rent come out of your rent before any profit, so this is a letting question too. If you are weighing whether to hold or sell, our property investment strategies hub covers how tenure feeds that decision.

In practice, a short lease narrows your options and raises void risk. Our free stress test calculator shows what the flat carries once service charges are in.

Your tenants sit on the other side of the same cost, because service charge rises reach rents at renewal.

Anyone holding a leasehold flat in England and Wales can respond by 11:59pm on 21 October 2026. You may wish to check your lease length and ground rent clause first.

Key takeaways

• MHCLG's consultation on leasehold enfranchisement valuation rates closes at 11:59pm on 21 October 2026 and covers England and Wales (GOV.UK).

• The capitalisation and deferment rates consulted on under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will feed into lease extension and freehold prices once that method is in force. The government says it cannot commence it without a further Bill.

• The 2024 Act's 990-year extensions and its removal of marriage value are not in force. Several other provisions, including the right to manage and the removal of the two-year ownership qualifying rule, are.

• The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill proposes a £250 a year ground rent cap moving to a peppercorn after 40 years. It carries no commencement date.

• There are 5 million existing leasehold properties in England and Wales (GOV.UK).