If you own a short lease flat and you have been waiting for reform to make your extension cheaper, the message from Westminster is that MPs think the Government is moving too slowly. On 27 May 2026 the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee published its scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. Its verdict came down to one phrase the leaseholder press seized on: ministers must go "further and faster".
The report runs to 56 recommendations. It backs the direction of the draft Bill, then takes apart the timetable behind it. For anyone whose lease is drifting below 80 years, the timetable is the whole story, because it decides whether reform lands before you need to sell or extend.
What the committee actually asked for
The draft Bill, published on 27 January 2026, sets out the structural reforms that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 left unfinished. The committee accepted the shape of it and pushed on the detail. Three asks stand out for flat owners.
- Bring the ground rent cap forward. The Government has pencilled in a £250 cap on existing ground rents for 2028. The committee wants it in late 2027, a year sooner.
- Cut rents to a peppercorn faster. The draft plan tapers existing ground rents down to zero over 40 years. The committee asked ministers to consider doing it within 20.
- Regulate managing agents. The draft Bill sets up no independent regulator for managing agents. The committee wants one, with the power to sanction agents who overcharge or cut corners.
The Government has to respond to each recommendation within two months, so its answer is due by late July 2026. The committee also set out the route it wants from there: an amended Bill introduced in autumn 2026, a Second Reading before the November recess, and Royal Assent by the middle of 2027.
Why managing agents made the headlines
The managing agent point did not stay on the page. On 2 July 2026 MPs held a Commons debate on leasehold reform and the regulation of managing agents, led by the committee's chair, Florence Eshalomi. The argument was blunt. Leaseholders can be billed thousands of pounds a year with little say over how the money is spent, and no regulator sits above the agents who set those bills.
That lands hard in London. The average service charge on a London flat now runs to £2,801 a year, according to Hamptons, and a high or fast-rising charge can shrink the buyer pool for a flat well before lease length even comes up. We covered the City Hall review of those charges in our piece on London's spiralling service charges.
What it changes for your lease today
Nothing, yet. A committee report is a recommendation, not a law. None of it touches your next service charge demand, and none of it changes an extension premium you might pay this year. Marriage value is still payable on leases under 80 years until the abolition actually commences, and that commencement still waits on secondary legislation the Government has not laid.
What the report does change is the read on timing. The reforms that matter most to short lease owners, marriage value abolition and the standard valuation method, ride on the same Bill the committee is trying to speed up. Even on the committee's faster timetable, Royal Assent lands around mid-2027, and the individual provisions switch on later still. Our guide to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 tracks which parts are in force and which are pending.
What it means if you own a short lease flat
The report is a reason to plan around the current rules, not the promised ones. A few honest reads by lease length:
- Above 80 years and falling. Extending now, before the lease drops under 80, keeps marriage value out of the sum altogether. Locking that in today usually beats waiting years for a reform that might trim the premium.
- Between 70 and 80 years. Waiting could cut the eventual premium once marriage value goes, but you pay for the wait in lease depreciation and market risk. A flat in this band typically sells at a 5% to 15% discount to a long-lease equivalent. Our guide to marriage value shows where the money goes.
- Between 60 and 70 years. Most mainstream lenders will not lend under 70 years, so your buyers are mainly cash buyers and investors, and the discount widens to roughly 15% to 30%. Four years of waiting while the lease ticks down rarely pays off.
- Under 60 years. The structural reforms will not arrive in time to move your discount, which can pass 30%. The realistic options are unchanged: extend the lease, buy the freehold with other leaseholders, or sell to a cash buyer. Our guide comparing buying the freehold and extending your lease walks through the trade-off.
None of this is a reason to panic, and it is not a reason to bank on Westminster either. The lease keeps shortening whatever the committee recommends, and the premium to fix it climbs as it does.
Where to read more
The committee's report and its 56 recommendations are on the UK Parliament committee page. The House of Commons Library briefing explains where leasehold reform stands and what is still to come. The draft Bill itself is published on Gov.uk. For the wider picture, our earlier piece on the King's Speech confirming the Bill sets out what is actually in it.
If you want a straight valuation of your short lease flat as the rules stand today, not as they might stand in 2027, get in touch. We buy short lease flats across London and the rest of the UK, and there is no obligation either way.