Residential Lease Extensions: Extend Now or Wait for the Leasehold Reforms

You may be considering extending your residential lease. You may also have heard that the law in this area is being reformed and that these changes could make the lease extension process cheaper and easier. So, should you extend now or wait?

Current legal position (as at 15 January 2026)

Most lease extension reforms in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (“LFRA 2024”) are not yet in force. Although the LFRA 2024 is now law, the majority of its provisions have not yet commenced and must be brought into effect by secondary legislation. This means that you cannot yet rely on them.

One key reform has, however, been commenced: the removal of the two-year ownership requirement. Regulations have been made to bring into force the provision in the LFRA 2024 enabling leaseholders to extend their lease without having owned it for two years. This change commenced on 31 January 2025.

When will the main lease extension reforms become law (i.e. come into force)?

There is no “commencement by” deadline in the LFRA 2024 for the headline reforms to be brought into force. The most relevant provisions contained in the LFRA 2024 that have not yet commenced are:

990-year lease extensions for houses and flats;
removal of marriage value from the premium calculation; and
revised valuation, cost, and procedural rules.

Key reforms intended to change the premium and valuation calculation procedures depend on further factors, such as the setting of rates and assumptions through secondary legislation. It remains unclear when Parliament will consider these matters further.

In terms of implementation timing, consultation has indicated that there may be a need to correct “serious flaws” through further legislation. This suggests a later, staged commencement rather than an imminent “switch-on” of the entire lease extension reform package.

Could the reforms never come into force? (Legal and political risk)

Yes, in a narrow legal sense. Uncommenced provisions can remain dormant indefinitely. In the UK, it is not unusual for provisions requiring commencement regulations to remain uncommenced for a prolonged period or, in rare cases, never to be commenced at all. This may be influenced by changes in Government policy or practical difficulties in implementation.

However, politically, the direction of travel is towards further reform rather than abandonment. The Government has stated that it wishes to implement the changes “as quickly as possible”. This suggests that the primary risk is not abandonment, but delay, amendment, or re-packaging.

From a legal perspective, there have also been Human Rights Act / ECHR challenges by certain landowners to aspects of the reforms, particularly those affecting valuation and economic expectations. These challenges have contributed to delays and may result in modifications to the legislation prior to commencement.

Practical conclusion

There is currently no definite date for the core lease extension valuation and term reforms (including 990-year extensions and removal of marriage value) to come into force in England.
Some reforms have already taken effect, notably the removal of the two-year ownership requirement.
The remaining reforms are best described as “enacted but mostly not commenced”, with implementation dependent on secondary legislation and potentially further primary amendments. As a result, timing remains uncertain and may be phased.
It is recommended that you extend your lease now, particularly if your remaining term is approaching 80 years. There is no guarantee that the reforms will take effect, and under the current law, lease extensions become more expensive as the remaining term decreases.

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