Propertymark unveils leasehold survey ahead of reforms

Propertymark is carrying out a survey to understand the effects of recent leasehold changes on leaseholders and estate agents across England and Wales.

Along with Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the National Leasehold Campaign, it is highlighting the challenges facing the leasehold system.

In 2018, Propertymark’s groundbreaking report, ‘Leasehold: A Life Sentence?‘, laid bare the struggles of leasehold property owners, igniting a push for parliamentary action.

That effort led to the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act in June 2022, which scrapped ground rent for most new long-term residential leases.

Fast forward to 2024, and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act has begun reshaping the landscape, banning most new leasehold houses and rolling out 14 key provisions so far.

Leaseholders face challenges

Propertymark’s chief executive, Nathan Emerson, said: “Nearly seven years on from when our Leasehold: A Life Sentence? report made a considerable impression on legislative change, our members and leaseholders know that they still face many challenges.

“With the latest movement to improve the leasehold system, we hope that this survey can shed light on how we move forward and provide home buyers and sellers with greater protections and rights.”

The Labour government’s intentions, announced in the King’s Speech in July 2024, signal further advances with draft laws targeting leasehold and commonhold improvements.

Yet, campaigners argue that the spotlight must remain on the most pressing issues affecting leaseholders and the housing sector to ensure meaningful progress.

Pace of cladding fixes

While the 2024 Act aims to clarify charges, Propertymark warns that underlying cost drivers, such as the sluggish pace of cladding fixes, remain unresolved.

For many leaseholders, properties feel like prisons, unsellable due to soaring service fees, particularly in flats plagued by cladding problems.

Estate agents, meanwhile, grapple with ballooning ground rents and remediation delays, stalling transactions.

The campaigners say they now want to highlight the current issues facing leaseholders and the industry with the ‘Still a Life Sentence’ survey so that action can be taken to prioritise those that are impacting people the most.

Very little has changed

The chair of trustees at the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, Martin Boyd, said: “This new survey will give a very useful longitudinal comparator of what’s changed over the intervening years and provide insight at a critical time.”

Katie Kendrick, the founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, said: “This follow-up survey is very timely in light of current outstanding reforms and the need to reinforce the message that urgency and delivery are needed.

“Evidence from our members indicates that very little has changed except that leases are reducing in length, ground rents are escalating, service charges have increased and premiums to extend or buy the freehold are escalating well beyond the means of most. Leaseholders cannot afford to wait any longer.

“The situation leaseholders are facing is worse than ever with many being left in a desperate situation, trapped with no way out.

“We urge all leaseholders to participate in this survey so that Propertymark can present hard data to the UK government and generate change.”

The survey is split into questions for estate agents, management companies and leaseholders to provide an industry-wide and consumer perspective of leasehold, what has changed since 2018, what has improved and what has worsened.