The thing that separates a flat from a house is the lease, and right now that is where buyers are making an expensive mistake. Marriage value abolition is written into the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 — but it has not been commenced, and realistically will not be before 2027 or 2028. People are waiting for a saving that has not arrived while their lease falls through 80 years, which costs far more than it saves.
Below 80 years unexpired, marriage value becomes payable on a statutory extension and the premium rises sharply. It is the single number that most often turns a good buy into a poor one, and it is rarely in the headline.
Marriage value abolition is in the Act and not in force. We will tell you what the extension costs today and what waiting is likely to cost, rather than repeating a headline from 2024.
Not the estimate. Plus the sinking fund balance and every section 20 consultation completed and pending, because in a managed block those are the numbers that decide your real monthly cost.
Our fee is paid by the seller. What it buys you is someone reading the lease before you fall in love with the kitchen.
Alston, Cumbria
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Areas, budget, and whether this is a home, a second property or an investment. On a flat that last answer changes the stamp duty position materially and it changes which buildings make sense.
Unexpired lease term and ground rent, three years of service charge accounts, sinking fund, section 20 history, the leaseholder deed of certificate and the building’s remediation position.
A short lease, a thin sinking fund or an outstanding remediation programme are all price adjustments. We quantify them and put them in the offer rather than discovering them at report on title.
Once a lease falls below 80 years unexpired, marriage value becomes payable on a statutory lease extension and the premium rises sharply — often by tens of thousands of pounds on an otherwise ordinary flat. That threshold has not moved.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 abolishes marriage value. But section 8 has not been commenced, so it remains payable on every extension completing in 2026. The new prescribed valuation scheme, the deferment and capitalisation rates, the 990-year standard extension and the ground rent provisions are all in the Act and all equally uncommenced.
The two-year ownership requirement was abolished on 31 January 2025. A buyer can now serve a claim notice immediately after registration rather than waiting two years to extend or to participate in collective enfranchisement. That is a genuine and material improvement, and it changes how a short lease should be priced into an offer: you are no longer buying a two-year wait as well as a premium.
Right to Manage cost reforms came into force in March 2025, improving the position for leaseholders taking over management of their block. Beyond those two, most of the headline reform is still legislation rather than law.
Ask for three years of actual accounts rather than the current estimate. In a new building the first years’ estimate is a marketing document; in an older one, the trend across three years tells you far more than any single figure.
Then the sinking fund balance and what it is earmarked for, and every section 20 consultation both completed and pending. A block with ageing lifts, a flat roof approaching end of life and a thin reserve is not a cheap service charge — it is a series of major works demands that have not been issued yet, and they will land on whoever owns the flat when they do.
Relevant buildings under the building safety regime are at least 11 metres or five storeys, which captures a great many ordinary apartment blocks rather than only towers. Qualifying lease status is fixed by reference to 14 February 2022 and you inherit it — a lease that did not qualify then does not begin qualifying because you buy it.
Where a lease qualifies, cladding remediation cannot be charged to the leaseholder and non-cladding contributions are capped and spread over ten years, with costs paid since 28 June 2017 counting toward the cap. Ask for the leaseholder deed of certificate and the landlord’s certificate first. If the seller cannot produce them, that is uncertainty you are buying and it should be reflected in the price.
Most of what matters to you changed on 1 May 2026 rather than in leasehold law. You cannot be asked to bid above the advertised rent, you cannot be required to pay more than one month’s rent in advance, there are no fixed terms, and section 21 no-fault eviction is gone. We charge tenants nothing, as no agent in England lawfully may.
One flat-specific point worth knowing as a renter: in a managed block, the things that will actually affect your daily life — concierge hours, lift reliability, bin stores, parking, whether the gym is included — sit in the building’s management arrangements rather than in your tenancy. Ask before you sign, because your landlord may not control any of them.
Usually not. Marriage value abolition is written into the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 but section 8 has not been commenced, so marriage value is still payable on extensions completing now. The valuation scheme, 990-year extensions and ground rent provisions are equally uncommenced, the enabling consultation had not launched by mid-2026, and a draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was only published in January 2026. Commencement in 2027 is optimistic. Meanwhile your lease keeps shortening — and if it passes below 80 years while you wait, the saving you were waiting for is smaller than the cost you have added.
Below 80 years unexpired, marriage value becomes payable on a statutory extension, and the premium rises sharply — frequently by a large multiple of what the same extension would have cost at 81 years. It is a cliff rather than a slope. If you are buying a flat with a lease in the low 80s, treat the extension as something to price and plan now rather than later.
No. That requirement was abolished on 31 January 2025, so you can serve a claim notice immediately after registration. It is one of the genuinely useful parts of the Act that is actually in force, and it means a short lease is a price adjustment rather than a two-year wait on top of one.
Three years of actual accounts rather than the estimate, the sinking fund balance and what it is earmarked for, and every section 20 consultation completed and pending. A low current charge in a block with ageing plant and no reserve is not cheap — it is a set of major works demands that have not been issued yet.
Not as a buyer — our fee comes from the seller. And not as a tenant either: tenant fees have been banned in England since 2019 apart from the deposit, a holding deposit of up to one week’s rent, rent itself and specific default charges.
