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Uncertain landscapes

25 October 2024 / Shabnam Ali-Khan
Issue: 8091 / Categories: Opinion , Property , Leasehold , Landlord&tenant
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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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NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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