Today, King Charles III delivered the second King's Speech of Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Government, setting out an ambitious legislative programme for the parliamentary session ahead. For those of us working in residential block management — and for the leaseholders we serve — this Speech stands apart. Three of the Bills announced touch directly on the buildings we manage, the tenures under which people own their homes, and the safety of the structures in which they live.
"My Ministers will bring forward legislation to increase long-term investment in social housing and to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents."
The Speech framed housing explicitly as a matter of national security and economic stability — recognising that for millions of people, the tenure under which they own their home has been a source of insecurity rather than a foundation for it. That framing signals genuine political will. Below, we set out the three Bills that matter most to leaseholders and those involved in block management.
Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill
This is the centrepiece of the property reform agenda and follows the publication of a draft Bill earlier this year and subsequent scrutiny by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. It is expected to be the most significant change to residential tenure in England and Wales in a generation.
- Introduce a new commonhold framework — designed to be workable for a wider range of developments — and support its transition to the default tenure for new flats.
- Ban the use of leasehold for new flats, ending the creation of new leasehold interests going forward.
- Make it easier for existing leaseholders to convert their buildings to commonhold.
- Cap existing ground rents at £250 per year, reducing to a peppercorn after 40 years — providing immediate financial relief to leaseholders currently paying escalating ground rent.
- Abolish forfeiture and replace it with a new leasehold enforcement regime, strengthening protections against the loss of a home over relatively minor disputes.
- Introduce further reforms to enfranchisement rights and estate management arrangements.
Remediation Bill
For leaseholders in buildings still awaiting cladding and fire safety remediation, today's announcement of a Remediation Bill offers a direct and enforceable route forward. This Bill is designed to accelerate works and close the legal gaps that have allowed remediation to stall.
- Require construction product manufacturers to contribute towards remediation costs, shifting liability away from innocent leaseholders.
- Strengthen regulatory enforcement powers and sanctions for non-compliance by those responsible for delays.
- Introduce a new legal duty to remediate unsafe buildings.
- Mandate consistent external wall assessment standards and create a register of 11–18 metre buildings.
- Allow public bodies to step in where remediation has stalled.
- Close legal gaps to ensure residents have a route to remediation, including where building ownership is unclear.
Social Housing Renewal Bill
While primarily aimed at protecting and growing the social housing stock, this Bill also contains provisions relevant to mixed-tenure developments and housing regulation more broadly.
- Tighten Right to Buy eligibility and reduce discounts to protect social housing stock.
- Exempt newly built social homes from Right to Buy for 35 years.
- Strengthen protections for victims of domestic abuse within housing legislation.
- Streamline housing regulation and consents, and repeal unimplemented provisions from previous legislation.
What this means for Regal & Co leaseholders
We manage over 321 residential developments comprising nearly 2,200 units. The announcements today affect leaseholders across our entire portfolio in different ways, depending on the age of their building, the terms of their lease, and whether their development has outstanding safety works. Here is our immediate assessment.
Ground rent relief
Leaseholders paying ground rent above £250 per year will benefit directly from the proposed cap. The reduction to a peppercorn after 40 years means the long-term financial burden of ground rent will effectively be eliminated.
Forfeiture abolished
The abolition of forfeiture removes one of the most disproportionate risks in leasehold — the potential loss of a home worth hundreds of thousands of pounds over a relatively minor debt or breach. This is a long-overdue protection.
Cladding developments
For leaseholders in buildings with outstanding fire safety works, the Remediation Bill's new legal duty to remediate — and powers for public bodies to step in — should meaningfully accelerate the pace of works.
The future is commonhold
The ban on leasehold for new flats and the transition to commonhold as the default tenure is a generational shift. For existing buildings, we will monitor closely how conversion routes are structured and advise our resident management companies accordingly.
Our commitment as your managing agent
At Regal & Co, our approach has always been founded on transparency, professional accountability, and a genuine commitment to the interests of the leaseholders and residents we serve. The legislative direction announced today reinforces standards that we already hold ourselves to — and we welcome that.
As the Bills progress through Parliament, further detail will emerge through first and second readings, Committee stages, and the publication of secondary legislation. We will provide plain-English updates at each stage so that the leaseholders and resident management companies we work with are never left guessing about what the law requires or what their rights are.
If you have an existing concern — about ground rent, service charges, lease length, building safety, or anything else — please do not wait for legislation. Speak to us now. Many of the rights you need are already available to you, and we are here to help you exercise them.
Regal & Co Management Limited manages over 321 developments across London and the surrounding area. If you would like to discuss how today's announcements affect your development, or if you are looking for a managing agent that keeps pace with the law and puts leaseholders first, we would be pleased to hear from you.
