Your offer on a flat's been accepted, and the conveyancer has just sent over a lease that runs to sixty pages, a management pack, and a list of questions you didn't know you were supposed to have answers to. Most of it is boilerplate. A few lines of it decide what the flat will cost you for as long as you own it, and whether you can sell it again.
This is the list of those lines, in the order worth checking them, and what the law actually says about each one as at October 2026.
What you're actually buying
With a leasehold flat you don't own the building or the land. You own a lease: the right to live in the flat for a fixed number of years, on the terms written in it. Someone else owns the freehold, and usually someone else again, a managing agent, runs the building day to day.
That's the normal way to own a flat in England and Wales, not an exotic one. Across active listings in and around London with a known tenure in October 2026, 48.6% were leasehold and another 11.4% share of freehold. Commonhold, the tenure with no lease at all, accounted for six listings out of more than 160,000.
Share of freehold still has a lease. You own part of the freehold company, but you still hold a lease that runs down and still needs extending. Everything below applies to it too. The full comparison is in share of freehold vs leasehold vs commonhold.
The lease is the product. Two identical flats in the same block can have different leases, and the cheaper one is often cheaper for a reason written in it.
What's law, what's in force, and what's only proposed
Most of what you'll read about leasehold reform describes the law as it will be. The gap matters, because a few of these change what you'd pay.
As at October 2026:
| Change | Status |
|---|---|
| Two-year wait before you can extend the lease removed | In force since 31 January 2025 |
| Ground rent limited to a peppercorn on most new leases | In force since 30 June 2022 |
| Marriage value abolished | Law, not in force. Still payable |
| 990-year statutory lease extensions | Law, not in force. Still 90 years for flats |
| New valuation rates for extensions | Being consulted on, closes 21 October 2026 |
| Standard service charge demand form, annual report to leaseholders | Announced 15 July 2026, "as soon as possible from 2027" |
| £250 cap on ground rent in existing leases | Proposed in a draft Bill. Not law |
| Ban on new leasehold flats | Proposed in the same draft Bill. Not law |
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is on the statute book, but the sections on marriage value and the 990-year term are still marked not in force on legislation.gov.uk. The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was published on 27 January 2026 and is a draft. If an agent tells you "the reforms have sorted all that", ask which section, and when it commenced.
Check one: how long the lease has left
This is the first thing to look at, because it's the one that can make a flat expensive to keep and hard to mortgage.
Below 80 years, extending gets much dearer. Once the lease drops under 80 years, the premium for a statutory extension includes marriage value, and marriage value is still live law. The reforms that would abolish it haven't commenced.
Lenders have their own lines. As a rough guide many want about 85 years or more remaining, and most mainstream lenders decline below about 70. Criteria vary by lender and change, so treat those as indicative and ask a broker about the specific flat.
The good news is that you no longer have to wait. Since 31 January 2025 you can start a statutory extension the day you complete, rather than after two years of ownership. A statutory extension adds 90 years and drops the ground rent to nothing. The detail, including why the date you serve notice is what counts, is in short leases: when the 80-year rule actually matters.
Check two: the ground rent, and how it rises
Look at what you pay now, and then at the review clause, because that's where the trouble is.
New leases granted since 30 June 2022 should carry a peppercorn ground rent. Existing leases carry whatever they say, and the £250 cap you may have read about is a proposal. A rent that doubles every ten or fifteen years is the one to stop on. Lenders frequently won't lend against one, which is a problem for you and then for whoever you try to sell to.
The fix that exists today is the same statutory extension, which replaces the ground rent with a peppercorn. More in ground rent: what the 2022 Act changed.
Check three: the service charge, and what's coming
The ground rent is usually small. The service charge usually isn't, and it's the one that moves.
Ask for the last three years of service charge accounts and the current budget, then look for the gaps rather than the totals. Is there a reserve fund, and is it enough for the roof and lift the building will eventually need? Are major works planned but not yet consulted on? Is the managing agent owned by the freeholder?
The protection worth knowing about is section 20 consultation. If major works would cost any one leaseholder more than £250, the landlord has to consult first. Skip it and recovery is capped at £250 each, unless a tribunal grants dispensation, which it often does where leaseholders weren't actually prejudiced. So it's a real protection, not a guaranteed windfall.
There's no reliable "normal" figure for a service charge, and anyone quoting one is guessing. Service charges: what's normal, and what's a red flag covers what drives the number and what to price in.
Check four: building safety and cladding
For a block above 11 metres or five storeys, ask whether there are known fire safety defects, whether remediation is planned or done, and whether the lender will want an EWS1 form.
Qualifying leaseholders pay nothing for cladding remediation. GOV.UK puts it plainly: they're "protected from all cladding system remediation costs". Other historical safety defects are a different matter. Contributions to those are capped and spread over 10 years, and some leaseholders pay nothing at all, including where the flat was worth under £325,000 in Greater London or £175,000 elsewhere in England. Whether a flat qualifies is set by the position on 14 February 2022, and the government's Leaseholder Protections Checker is the place to start.
An EWS1 form isn't a safety certificate. It's a valuation tool lenders use. From 1 November 2026 RICS's second edition of its cladding valuation standard takes effect, and it says an EWS1 "should only be requested where there is a clear rationale". EWS1 forms explained has the ratings and who pays.
Check five: who runs the building
Find out who the freeholder is, who the managing agent is, and how long the agent has been there. A building with a high turnover of agents, unanswered complaints or a dispute in the minutes is telling you something.
If the block is ex-council, the council is often still the freeholder, which comes with its own trade-offs, covered in ex-local authority flats: the honest pros and cons. If it's above a shop, the use downstairs can matter more to your lender than anything in the lease, which is in buying a flat above a shop or takeaway.
What to do about it
In roughly the order a buyer would take them:
- Ask how many years are left on the lease before you offer. If it's anywhere near 80, get the cost of extending estimated before you commit, not after.
- Ask a broker whether the remaining term works for your lender, for this flat, not in general.
- Read the ground rent clause, not just the figure. Note how often it reviews and whether it doubles.
- Get three years of service charge accounts and the current budget. Ask about the reserve fund and any major works planned or under consultation.
- For a block above 11 metres or five storeys, ask about fire safety defects and remediation, and run the flat through the Leaseholder Protections Checker.
- Ask whether the lender will need an EWS1, and if one exists, its date and rating.
- Find out who the freeholder and managing agent are, and ask for any recent disputes or complaints.
- Get the survey right for a flat. Which house survey you actually need covers what each level looks at.
- Ask your conveyancer to report on anything unusual in the lease, in writing, before exchange.
Nookaly shows tenure on each listing alongside the area data, which helps you spot the leasehold ones early. The lease itself you'll have to read, or have read for you.
The honest summary
A leasehold flat is a fine thing to own when the lease is long, the ground rent is flat and the building's money is in order. Check the lease length first, the ground rent clause second, and the service charge accounts third, because that's roughly the order in which they cost you. Treat any claim that reform has fixed it as a question about commencement dates. As at October 2026, most of it hasn't commenced.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. The law described here applies to England, and to England and Wales where it says so, and is stated as at October 2026. Leasehold reform is moving, so check anything that matters to your purchase with your conveyancer.