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Today isn’t a surprising or disappointing result. Everything that matters is yet to be decided.

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And whatever happens in July probably won't be the last word on this. Whoever loses will probably seek permission to appeal. This will most likely go on for some time.

We were not expecting any further movement on the measures being challenged until consultations opened in the summer in any event. The trial therefore poses no reason to delay those consultations.

Generally the courts defer to the government and Parliament, particularly where challenges are made to Acts of Parliament. Freeholders have challenged every attempt made since 1967 to reform leasehold as an infringement of their human rights. They have lost every time.

Annington dropped out of these judicial review proceedings, accepting a buy out rather than roll the dice on continuing with litigation. That may perhaps be a valuable insight as to how the freeholders really view their chances in this case.

One such example is that the 8th freeholder in this case -- Annington -- in 2023 lost a judicial review attempting to stop the government from acquiring the freeholds to the Married Quarters Estate. Annington got permission but lost on every point at trial.

The government will have the opportunity to answer the bottom feeders with their own expert evidence and their own justification for enacting the changes. Only around half of judicial reviews that get permission to proceed actually succeed at trial.

The "rights" in question have always been subject to statute and statutes can change.

Ditto the abolition of marriage value. Again, this is a right given to freeholders in 1993 with an arbitrary cut-off of 80 years, primarily to stop hereditary peers (who then sat in the House of Lords) from blocking the law.

And given the legal argument is over a valuation system created by statute in 1993, it is hard to see why changing the rules to move to fixed variables for calculating the cost of lease extension instead of variables made up by freeholders' pet surveyors is a deprivation of private property.

And the part about requiring proof is important. At the trial in July it will be up to the bottom feeders, for the first time, to prove their points about billions in damages. It is easy to throw around large numbers but much harder to prove them in a trial.

This is entirely unsurprising. Bottom-feeding freeholders have emphasised (without yet being required to prove) that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act is causing them (or will cause them) billions in loss.

This does not mean the bottom feeders "win" or that their arguments are "good". All it means is that the judge was persuaded that they had a case good enough to go to trial. Trial is due in July 2025.

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#leaseholdreform 7 freeholders have been given permission to bring a judicial review against the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

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A1P1 applies to both legal and natural persons, so companies can claim that right too.

8/8 Equally the High Court could refuse permission because the government has yet to lay out all of the detail of the provisions the freeholders are challenging. We await the result with interest.

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7/8 I would not be surprised if permission is granted today, but that would not mean the case is bound to succeed later. Annington got permission to bring a judicial review against the government that it then went on to lose (badly) at trial.

6/8 It is worth noting that today is not a trial of the bottom feeders' case. It is a hearing to decide whether they can argue their case at a later trial. Most judicial reviews fail at this stage. Only about half of those that proceed to trial succeed.

5/8 The 7 left standing include Long Harbour, Wallace Partnership Trust, the ARC Time Freehold Income Fund, Cadogan Estate, Grosvenor Estate, Portal Trust and John Lyon's Charity. And I am sure most of their leaseholders would describe them as worthy paragons of virtue.

4/8 The number of participating bottom feeders / freeholders has reduced from 8 to 7. Annington dropped out at the end of 2024 having agreed to sell the Ministry of Defence Married Quarters Estate back to the taxpayer: annington.co.uk/media/punbg1...

annington.co.uk

3/8 The bottom feeders / freeholders are seeking a declaration of incompatibility because they say the Act infringes their private property rights and is contrary to Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

2/8 The hearing begins at 10.30 in Court 1 of the Royal Courts of Justice. There is, unfortunately, no live stream but we can expect a written decision in due course.

1/8 #leaseholdreform Bottom feeders (although they identify as professional freeholders) assemble at the High Court today for a 2 day permission hearing to decide whether they can proceed with a judicial review challenging the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act.

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questions-statements.parliament.uk

There is still much more to be done. The new 990 year lease extensions, removal of marriage value for leases 80 years or less and the changes to prevent landlords recovering their legal and professional costs for lease extensions are not yet in force.

Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

This adds cost and time to sales, so abolishing the 2 year waiting period should help with buying and selling shorter leaseholds in the future.

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The 2 year rule also caused cost and friction when trying to sell flats with short leases (approaching 80 years). Usually buyers insist on sellers serving the notice before exchange of contracts so the buyer can take over the process.

Nor did the 2 year waiting period stop people buying flats with short leases and flipping them once the lease was extended because the notice could be given by a seller and assigned to the buyer on day 1 of the buyer's ownership.

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The 2 year waiting period has always been an oddity. A leaseholder can join a Right To Manage claim or a claim to collectively enfranchise (buy the freehold) on day 1. It never made any sense to impose a 2 year waiting limit to extend the lease.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025

As promised on 21 November, Regulations published today: legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/57... Will abolish the 2 year waiting period before the leaseholder of a flat can exercise the statutory right to obtain a lease extension. This comes into effect on 31 January 2025.

legislation.gov.uk

These Regulations bring into force section 27 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (c. 22) (“the Act”) on 31st January 2025. This removes the two year qualifying period for leasehold enfranch...

Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Reposted by Liam Spender

Douglas Barrowman sold a possibly criminal, tax avoidance scheme using an Isle of Man company called Principal Contracts Ltd. The Isle of Man authorities say it failed to file accounts, paid unlawful dividends, & failed to pay £5m of Isle of Man VAT. Guess what happened next?

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Reposted by Liam Spender

Jo Darbyshire @jodarbyshire.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Great day of #leasehold coverage on BBC yesterday. Heartbreaking stories from leaseholders. So much more needs to be done to end the horrors of this antiquated and abusive tenure. NLC team front and centre as always. @nlc-movement.bsky.social @cathnlc.bsky.social

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Liam Spender @liamspender.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

There’s no firm timetable but there should be progress from next summer.

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The announcement says some major reforms (2 year rule, RTM changes, abolishing landlord right to recover legal costs and banning secret insurance commissions) should all be in legal effect by the end of 2025. That is real progress. The rest is on a vague timetable up to the end of the Parliament.

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20/20 Overall, I am cautiously optimistic about the statement. The government has delivered on their promise to give a timetable. Some welcome changes should be in place over the next 2 years, with more to come. We must all hold the government to its written promises.

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19/20 It is annoying that we are short on detail and the government is using the usual excuse for any new government of blaming the last lot and saying it is all very complicated. There is an element of truth in that. The real positive is that promises are now in writing.

18/20 Overall, it is good that we have something of a road map for the future with firm commitments to switch on existing legislation to improve things for leaseholders, with a lot of activity planned for 2025 and 2026 and more after.

17/20 And last but not least, a firm commitment to bring forward a new law to ban new leasehold flats and make commonhold the default tenure by the end of this Parliament, so 2029 at the latest.

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16/20 Also promised is statutory regulation of managing agents, including minimum qualifications required to operate as a managing agency. We need much more detail on this. There is some reference to the Best Report, but licensing managing agent top brass won't fix the problem.

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15/20 Also next year the government will consult on how to activate giving owners of houses on fleecehold estates the right to challenge service charges in the FTT. Currently they have no rights, unless they can argue breach of contract (which is of no use in most cases).

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14/20 I suspect some of the vagueness about the nature of the error is due to the fact that this part of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act is already the target of a judicial review by freeholders. The High Court will decide in January whether that judicial review continues.

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13/20 Also unclear when the new valuation method will apply, or whether until the new Act is passed we will have the current system of 90 year extensions but with no marriage value and fixed variables or whether it will all have to wait until the 999 year leases come in.

12/20 This is said to require primary legislation (a new Act of Parliament) to fix, by amending the relevant parts of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act. Unclear from the statement when that will happen or what the exact flaws are.