The announcement of the General Election heralded the end of the current Parliament. Ministers hurried to push through final legislation known as “wash-up”. The last bill to pass through and receive Royal Assent was the Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA).
It is important to state that although now law, none of the provisions are enforced at the time of writing. Some will require Statutory Instruments in the new Parliament after the election and others will be enacted on 24th July 2024. Below we provide a brief summary of the changes the new legislation bring:
Building Safety Act
Coming into force on 24 July 2024 this amends S123 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) directing relevant landlords to provide expert surveys relating to potential relevant defects and expands S124 providing examples of costs that could included in any remediation contribution order. Importantly the LFRA also amends para 9 of Schedule 8 of the BSA clarifying that the bar on recovering legal and professional costs does not apply to RMCs and RTM companies.
Rentcharges
Rentcharges are often contained in transfers for freehold houses relating to the estate management. The LFRA amends the Law of Property Act 1925 in respect of fixed rentcharges (known as regulated rentcharges) setting out new requirements in relation to notices that must be served to recover arrears. Incidentally this type of charge was removed in 1977 and will be expunged in 2037. These provisions come into force on 24 July 2024. Other amendments to variable rentcharges bring regulations to provide freehold properties similar protections to those enjoyed by leaseholders, although there is no indication of when these amendments will be introduced.
Service Charges
The LFRA amends the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, although this will require statutory instruments before any provisions can be enforced. The key provisions contained in the legislation are:
- Service charge demands will have to be in a specified form, set down in regulations;
- S20B(2) notices will also need to be in a specified form;
- Service Charge Accounts will have to be in a specified form with a 6-month window to produce accounts from year-end;
- Landlords will have to provide annual reports to leaseholders in a specified form within 1-month from year-end;
- Leaseholders will have further rights to obtain information from their Landlord about service charges;
- Leaseholders will have rights to make an application to the Tribunal if a landlord fails to issue service charge demands, or annual reports in the correct format with damages payable up to £5,000;
- Insurance costs will be limited to “permitted insurance payments” although no details yet about what this means;
- Administration charges will have to be published documenting any charges that may become payable by a leaseholder
- The Landlord’s litigation charges in proceedings against a leaseholder will not be recoverable as service or administration charges unless the Landlord applies to the Court or Tribunal allowing these to be recovered;
- There will be an obligation on Landlords to provide information within its possession in respect of any sale of a property with a limit set on the charge for this information.
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