The founder of the National Leasehold Campaign has warned that millions of leaseholders continue to face uncertainty despite government commitments to end the leasehold system in England and Wales.
Katie Kendrick OBE told The Negotiator that leaseholders are seeing no tangible progress towards the promised legislative changes. “While ministers work behind the scenes, in plain sight millions of leaseholders remain trapped in a broken and exploitative system, facing rising costs, uncertainty and injustice,” she said.
Government response
The comments follow a weekend radio interview with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, in which she addressed Labour’s manifesto pledge to “bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”. When asked by LBC Radio’s Lewis Goodall whether Labour would abolish leasehold by the end of the Parliament, Rayner stated that legislation would be “coming very soon”.
“It will take time. It is complex. We are going to end that system. It doesn’t happen overnight,” Rayner said.
Market implications
The ongoing uncertainty around leasehold reform has implications for property transactions and valuations across England and Wales, where leasehold remains the dominant tenure for flats. The issue affects millions of homeowners, particularly in the residential sector where ground rents and service charges have become contentious.
Kendrick stated that the gap between the promise to abolish leasehold and the reality facing leaseholders is “growing wider, not narrower”. She noted that while freeholders are threatening legal action to defend the current system, the government must clarify its position.
“Leaseholders have waited long enough. We have moved beyond plans, consultations and promises. Leaseholders do not want leasehold reformed. They want it abolished,” Kendrick said.
The campaign’s concerns highlight the complexity of unwinding a property tenure system that has existed for centuries, affecting both residential and commercial property markets. While property financing continues across various sectors, the leasehold question remains unresolved for millions of homeowners.
The government has not provided a specific timeline for introducing the promised legislation to Parliament.
