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10 October 2025 / Louise Uphill
Issue: 8134 / Categories: Opinion , Property , Leasehold
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Leasehold reform: Unfinished business

231939
Rushed reform & delayed implementation: Louise Uphill on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024

The days of the previous government, which culminated in the ‘wash-up’ of Bills including the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LAFRA 2024), sometimes feels like a distant era. But for the many leaseholders for whom that milestone was meant to herald long-awaited change, the wait continues.

LAFRA 2024 promised fairness, simplicity and reduced costs in what was portrayed as an overly complex and archaic system.

But a year on, the reality is far from transformative. Despite headline-grabbing proposals—from abolishing the payment of marriage value to introducing caps on ground rent and extending leases to 990 years—too few of the Act’s key provisions have been implemented. The market remains stalled, practitioners are in limbo, and leaseholders are left grappling with legal uncertainty, valuation dilemmas and a fundamental question: should they act now or wait?

A ‘dog’s dinner’?

LAFRA 2024 was passed in the closing days of the last Parliament. Many professionals working in leasehold enfranchisement warned

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he 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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