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25 October 2024 / Shabnam Ali-Khan
Issue: 8091 / Categories: Opinion , Property , Leasehold , Landlord&tenant
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Uncertain landscapes

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What can be expected from the Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill? Shabnam Ali-Khan sets out the knowns & unknowns

Following the rushed Royal Assent of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, further controversy has arisen. In the King’s Speech on 17 July, the new Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill was announced, but the full details of the Bill have yet to be released. We can expect more information on this in the near future.

Five key areas

The current guidance highlights five key areas the Bill will address. We explore each of these in detail below.

First, it enacts remaining Law Commission recommendations to strengthen leaseholders’ rights to extend their lease, buy their freehold, and take over management of their building. The 2024 Act addresses most of the Law Commission’s recommendations on lease extensions and freehold purchases. These include offering a 990-year lease instead of the current 90 years, removing the two-year ownership requirement for flat lease extensions, and extending the right to acquire freeholds in buildings where the commercial area makes

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council

R3—Jodie Wildridge

R3—Jodie Wildridge

Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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