At the opening of the new session of parliament following the general election, the King lays out his government’s plans for future legislation.
After 8 years of campaigning we are in it – with a promise to “end the injustice of private estate management”.
As many of you know, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was rushed through at the end of the last session under the Conservative regime. Much work is still to be done on the detail, but there are parts which are in force straight away – of special interest to “fleeceholders” with a rent charge is the removal of the section 121 remedies for non payment of the estate rent charge. Now it can only be chased as a debt in the county court.
It does appear that the detailed statutory instruments for the right to challenge estate charges and appoint a new manager are not in place yet. Nor are the detailed regulations for managing agents as far as we can see.
The good news in the king’s speech is that not only will the new government finalise this Act, but it plans to go much further, implementing the Law Commission recommendations on Leasehold and laying the groundwork for much more commonhold tenure in future.
For “fleecehold” they have pledged to get rid of the “injustices” but don’t say how! Expect more consultations on that one. We will continue to lobby for universal adoption of public spaces on estates, new or old. There is no place for private management or ownership of these spaces.
Working together as a network has been successful in getting the issue to this stage and our ambition is to build on this to get the model scrapped altogether.
Are you able to confirm that the draconian penalties under section 121 have been removed for non-payment of the Estate Rent Charge? The articles I’m coming across online seem to indicate that the Estates Rent Charge was excluded from the removal of the penalties under section 121? I would be over the moon to be corrected however.
It is our understanding that they have been removed in the new Act. The way things work, we don’t think every lender and solicitor will be fully aware so we think a Deed of Variation may still be requested during a sale or remortgage. It takes time for these changes to filter through.