If you're holding off on a leasehold flat until reform "fixes" leasehold, you could be waiting years. Leasehold gets a mention in the news most weeks — ground rent caps, commonhold, an outright ban on new leasehold flats — and it's easy to assume the rules have already changed. They mostly haven't. Flats and apartment conversions in towns like Alnwick, Hexham, Berwick and Amble, and purpose-built blocks in Blyth and along the coast, are still bought and sold under close to the same leasehold rules as five years ago. Here's what's actually law, what's still a promise, and what that means if you're weighing up a leasehold flat purchase now.

What's already law — and already helps you

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 received royal assent in May 2024, but the government has been switching it on section by section rather than all at once. Two changes that are genuinely in force and worth knowing about: since February 2025, you no longer have to own a leasehold flat for two years before you can extend the lease or buy a share of the freehold — that right now applies from the day you complete. And since March 2025, leaseholders taking over management of their building through Right to Manage no longer have to cover the freeholder's legal costs for the claim, and the non-residential floorspace threshold that can block a claim rose from 25% to 50%, making Right to Manage realistic for more blocks.

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What's still just a proposal, not a right

This is the part worth being clear-eyed about. As of mid-2026, only around 10 of the Act's 125 sections have actually been brought into force. The abolition of "marriage value" — a cost that can make extending a short lease significantly more expensive — is written into the Act but hasn't been commenced yet, though a High Court ruling in October 2025 dismissed a legal challenge from freeholder groups, which clears one obstacle. A cap on ground rent, proposed at £250 a year and falling to a peppercorn after 40 years, was confirmed by the Prime Minister in January 2026 as part of a new Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill — but it isn't law, and current estimates put implementation somewhere around late 2027 to late 2028. And a ban on new leasehold houses and flats being sold at all is still at consultation stage: the housing minister said in April 2026 that switching it on this parliament is unlikely.

Don't price a leasehold flat as if the ground rent cap and marriage value abolition already apply — they don't, and there's no fixed date for when they will.

Should you just wait for commonhold instead?

Commonhold — where flat owners jointly own the building instead of leasing from a landlord — was announced as the intended default for new flats in the 2026 King's Speech, with a Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill expected in the 2026-27 parliamentary session. That's a bill still to pass, before existing leaseholders get any practical route to convert. If you need to buy in the next year or two, commonhold isn't a realistic alternative yet — almost everything sold leasehold today will still be leasehold when you complete.

What this means if you're buying a leasehold flat in Northumberland now

Treat the reform headlines as context, not protection you can already rely on. Before you offer on a leasehold flat, ask your solicitor to confirm the remaining lease term (anything under 85 years should slow you down, since extension costs rise sharply below 80), whether the ground rent is already a peppercorn (leases granted since mid-2022 generally are, under earlier reform), and for two years of service charge accounts, not just an estimate. If the lease is short, you can now use your immediate right to start extending it the day you complete rather than waiting two years — that's real, usable leverage today, regardless of what happens to the wider Act. And if a seller or agent implies the ground rent cap or marriage value changes already apply, get that checked independently before it affects your offer.

If you already own a leasehold flat and you're wondering whether to sell now or wait for reform to land, the honest answer is that waiting rarely helps — buyer demand for well-presented leasehold flats in Northumberland's market towns hasn't dropped because of headlines about future law, and a shorter lease only gets more expensive to fix the longer it sits unaddressed.

Tags: Leasehold Buying Reform Flats