Can I challenge my service charge?

Yes. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a variable service charge is only payable to the extent it was reasonably incurred, and works or services must be of a reasonable standard. You have the statutory right to ask for a written summary of the costs behind your charge (section 21) and then to inspect the invoices and receipts that support it (section 22). If the charge still looks wrong, either side can ask the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England — or the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales — to decide whether it is reasonable and how much is actually payable. There is a fixed application fee (and a further fee if there's a hearing) — the fee levels were revised in April 2026, so check the current amounts on GOV.UK. Free advice on the whole process comes from LEASE, the government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service.

What is a Section 20 notice and why does £250 matter?

Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 forces your freeholder or managing agent to formally consult leaseholders before major works where any one leaseholder would pay more than £250, and before entering a qualifying long-term agreement (over 12 months) costing any leaseholder more than £100 a year. Consultation means notices, the right to make observations and to nominate a contractor. If they skip or botch the consultation and don't get dispensation from the tribunal, the law caps what they can recover to £250 per leaseholder for the works (or £100 a year for the agreement) — however much the job actually cost. If a big bill has landed without any consultation papers, that cap is your first question.

Do I still have to pay ground rent?

It depends on when your lease was granted. For most new residential long leases granted on or after 30 June 2022 (1 April 2023 for retirement properties), the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 limits ground rent to a token peppercorn — effectively zero — and bans admin charges for it. Leases granted before that date keep whatever ground rent the lease says, including any escalation clauses, so yes, you must keep paying it for now. Change has been announced: in January 2026 the government published the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, proposing to cap ground rent on pre-2022 leases at £250 a year for 40 years and then reduce it to a peppercorn — but that is a proposal, not law, and on the government's own indication it may not take effect until around late 2028. Until it passes, your existing lease terms stand.

Should I extend my lease now or wait for the 990-year reform?

This is the hardest live question in leasehold, and the honest answer is: it depends, and the new regime is not available yet. Today's route is still the statutory one — for flats, a 90-year extension on top of your remaining term at a peppercorn ground rent; marriage value still applies if your lease has dropped below 80 years, which makes extending materially more expensive. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will eventually replace this with 990-year extensions and abolish marriage value from the calculation, but those valuation provisions are not in force — the government still has to consult on the valuation rates (expected during 2026) and pass secondary legislation, and freeholders' court challenges were only dismissed in October 2025. One piece IS in force: since 31 January 2025 you no longer need to have owned the property for two years before claiming. If your lease is approaching 80 years, waiting is a gamble on timing — get advice from LEASE (free) before deciding.

Can the freeholder take my flat if I don't pay the service charge?

Forfeiture — ending your lease over a breach — exists, but the law puts real brakes on it. Under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, a freeholder cannot even begin forfeiture action over unpaid service charges, ground rent or admin charges unless the debt is over £350 or has been outstanding for more than three years, and they cannot serve a forfeiture notice until you have admitted the charge is due or a court or tribunal has decided it is. That is exactly why you should never simply ignore a service-charge demand: unanswered arrears grow into the territory where forfeiture and mortgage-lender pressure become possible. If you dispute the charge, dispute it properly — in writing, then at the First-tier Tribunal — rather than just not paying. Free help: LEASE and Citizens Advice.

Leasehold rights: service charges, ground rent & the 2024 reforms

What leasehold actually is — and why the years left matter

A leaseholder owns the right to live in a property for a fixed term — commonly 99, 125 or 999 years when first granted — while the freeholder owns the building and the land under it. The lease is a contract: it sets what you pay (service charges, sometimes ground rent), what you can and can’t do, and who repairs what. Flats are almost always leasehold in England and Wales; some houses were sold leasehold too. (Scotland effectively abolished this kind of tenure — leasehold is overwhelmingly an England-and-Wales issue, and this guide is written for England, with Wales notes where the routes differ.)

Two numbers on your lease matter more than everything else:

The years remaining. A lease is a wasting asset — every year it gets shorter, the flat is worth slightly less. Below roughly 90 years buyers and mortgage lenders start to care; below 80 years the cost of extending jumps, because under the current valuation rules the freeholder becomes entitled to a share of the value the extension adds — so-called marriage value. Some lenders are reluctant to lend on short leases at all, which quietly shrinks your pool of buyers.
The ground rent clause. Older leases can contain escalating ground rents — doubling clauses were a genuine scandal — and anything above a token amount can affect mortgageability. New leases are different: see the ground-rent section below.

Check your lease length today — the 80-year line costs real moneyYou can find the remaining term on your lease or on your Land Registry title (a few pounds online). If it is anywhere near 80 years, do not let it drift: once it drops below 80, marriage value applies under the current rules and extending gets materially more expensive — and the reform that abolishes marriage value is not in force yet (see the reforms section). Buying a leasehold flat? Make the remaining term and the service-charge history part of your checks — our home-buying guide covers where this fits.

Service charges — must be reasonable, and you can see the receipts

The service charge pays for insuring, maintaining and managing the building — and it is the single biggest source of leasehold disputes. The law here is older than the current reforms and fully in force. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985:

Charges must be reasonably incurred, and any works or services must be carried out to a reasonable standard (section 19). “The lease says you pay” is not the end of the argument — the amount still has to be reasonable.
You can demand a written summary of the costs behind your service charge (section 21) — and once you have it, you can inspect the invoices, receipts and accounts that support it (section 22). Ask in writing and keep a copy.
Demands must include your rights. A service-charge demand has to come with a prescribed summary of your rights and obligations — and ground-rent demands have their own formality rules — so badly-served paperwork is worth questioning.

Section 20 — the £250 consultation rule

Before major works where any one leaseholder would pay more than £250 — a new roof, external decorations, a lift replacement — the freeholder or managing agent must run the formal Section 20 consultation: notices of intention, the right to make observations, estimates, and the right to nominate a contractor. The same applies before a qualifying long-term agreement (a contract over 12 months — cleaning, lifts, managing agents) costing any leaseholder more than £100 a year.

The teeth: if they skip or botch the consultation and the tribunal doesn’t grant them dispensation, recovery is capped at £250 per leaseholder for the works (or £100 per year for the agreement) — however much the job actually cost. A five-figure major-works bill that arrived with no consultation papers is a bill you should question before paying.

Challenging a charge — the tribunal route

If the accounts don’t add up or the amount looks unreasonable, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England — the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales — to decide whether the charge is reasonable and how much is payable. It is designed to be used without a solicitor. There is a fixed application fee, and a further fee if the case goes to a hearing — the fee levels were revised in April 2026, so check the current amounts on GOV.UK before applying. Got a demand you don’t understand? Put it through Decode or the Letter Machine first.

Your quiet superpower — ask for the paperwork, in writingMost service-charge rows are won or lost on documents, not arguments. One calm written request — “Please send me the section 21 summary of costs for the last accounting year; I’d then like to arrange to inspect the supporting invoices and receipts under section 22” — changes the conversation. Agents who know the file is untidy often settle or re-issue at that point, before any tribunal is mentioned. Keep every reply; a dated paper trail is exactly what the tribunal wants to see.

Never just ignore a service-charge demandUnpaid service charges are one of the few debts that can ultimately threaten the lease itself — the process is called forfeiture. The law brakes it hard: under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 a freeholder cannot begin forfeiture action over arrears unless they exceed £350 or have been outstanding more than three years, and they cannot serve a forfeiture notice until you have admitted the charge or a court or tribunal has decided it is due. Freeholders also routinely tell your mortgage lender about arrears — and lenders sometimes pay the charge and add it to your mortgage. So dispute properly: pay what is undisputed, challenge the rest in writing and at the tribunal, and get free advice from LEASE early. Silence is the one strategy that always loses.

Ground rent — a peppercorn on new leases, honesty about the old ones

Ground rent is money for nothing — a payment to the freeholder with no service attached. Parliament has dealt with it in two halves:

New leases — done. The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 limits the rent on most new residential long leases granted on or after 30 June 2022 (1 April 2023 for retirement properties) to a token peppercorn — effectively zero — and bans admin charges for it. Buying a new build? Check the lease says peppercorn; it should.
Existing leases — not yet. Leases granted before 30 June 2022 keep whatever the lease says, escalation clauses included. You must keep paying it for now — though a freeholder must serve a formal written demand before ground rent is legally due.

Announced, not law — the proposed cap on existing ground rentsIn January 2026 the government published the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, proposing to cap ground rent on pre-2022 leases at £250 a year for 40 years, then reduce it to a peppercorn. On the government’s own indication this may not take effect until around late 2028, and a draft Bill can change substantially before it passes. Treat it as direction of travel, not a reason to stop paying — and check GOV.UK or LEASE for the current status before making decisions around it.

One trap worth knowing: an escalating ground rent that has climbed (or will climb) above certain levels can affect how mortgage lenders treat the flat. If your ground rent doubles on a fixed schedule, factor that into any decision about extending the lease — a statutory lease extension reduces the ground rent to a peppercorn as part of the deal.

The 2024 reforms — what is actually in force, and what is still coming

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 passed in May 2024, and headlines ever since have blurred one crucial fact: most of it is not switched on yet. Each part needs its own commencement regulations, and the valuation parts need consultation and secondary legislation first. The honest scoreboard as of July 2026:

In force now	Legislated but NOT yet in force
The two-year wait is gone — since 31 January 2025 you no longer need to have owned the property for two years before claiming a statutory lease extension or (for houses) the freehold. You can start the day you complete.	990-year lease extensions — the new standard extension for flats and houses, replacing today’s 90-year (flats) and 50-year (houses) statutory terms.
Right to Manage widened — since 3 March 2025, buildings with up to 50% non-residential space qualify (up from 25%), and leaseholders making RTM claims no longer have to pay the freeholder’s costs in most cases.	Marriage value abolished & the new valuation scheme — the rates must be consulted on (expected during 2026) and set in secondary legislation; freeholders’ legal challenges were dismissed by the High Court in October 2025. Until commencement, today’s valuation rules — marriage value included — apply.
Ground rent peppercorn on new leases — in force since 30 June 2022 under the separate 2022 Act (above).	The ban on selling new houses as leasehold, and standardised service-charge accounts and reporting — both still awaiting commencement. The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (Jan 2026) proposes the next wave, including the existing-lease ground-rent cap and a commonhold future for flats.

The government has said it intends to fix technical defects in the 2024 Act through the new Bill before the enfranchisement machinery can fully commence — which is why no date for the 990-year regime exists yet. Anyone who tells you the new lease-extension rules are already available is wrong; anyone who tells you nothing has changed is also wrong.

Extending, managing, buying the freehold — your three escalation routes

Extending your lease — the rules that apply today

Until the 2024 Act’s valuation provisions commence, the live route is the statutory one under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993: qualifying flat owners can require a 90-year extension on top of the remaining term, with ground rent reduced to a peppercorn, at a price set by the statutory valuation (house owners have a separate 50-year route under the 1967 Act). You pay the premium plus both sides’ professional costs. Below 80 years, marriage value still applies and raises the price. The wait-or-extend dilemma is real: waiting for the 990-year regime could save money if your lease is comfortably long, but if you are close to the 80-year line, or need to sell or remortgage, waiting on an unannounced commencement date is a gamble — take free advice from LEASE, and use a valuer and solicitor experienced in enfranchisement (find regulated professionals via our directory — no affiliate fees).

Right to Manage — take over the management without proving fault

RTM lets qualifying leaseholders of a block take over its management — appointing the managing agent, controlling the service-charge spending — through an RTM company, without having to prove the freeholder did anything wrong and without buying the freehold. Broadly, at least half the flats must join, and since March 2025 buildings up to 50% non-residential qualify. It doesn’t remove the freeholder; it removes their grip on the spending. Where management is genuinely failing, a separate route exists to ask the tribunal to appoint a new manager.

Collective enfranchisement — buying the freehold together

Qualifying leaseholders can join together to buy the freehold of their block — generally at least half the flats participating — taking control permanently and granting themselves long extensions. It is the most powerful route and the most involved: a statutory notice process, a valuation, and shared costs. The 2024/2026 reforms aim to make it cheaper and simpler over time. Get the building talking, then get professional advice before serving anything.

Building safety — if your block has cladding or fire-safety defects

The Building Safety Act 2022 gives qualifying leaseholders in buildings over 11 metres (or five storeys) significant protection: broadly, no contribution to cladding remediation costs, and capped, spread contributions to other historical safety defects — with landlords bearing the rest. The detail turns on your building’s height, your lease date and the landlord’s links to the developer, so if a remediation bill or a landlord’s certificate lands, check the GOV.UK leaseholder-protection guidance and call LEASE before paying anything.

Sorting a leasehold problem, step by step

Know your two numbers: years left on the lease, and this year’s service charge. Both are on your lease, your demands, or your Land Registry title.
Get the accounts: section 21 summary in writing, then inspect the receipts under section 22. Most disputes resolve at this stage.
Check Section 20 on any big bill: works over £250 per leaseholder without consultation papers = ask about the cap before paying.
Escalate calmly: formal complaint to the managing agent (they must belong to a redress scheme — the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme), then the First-tier Tribunal for the charge itself.
Think structurally: if the block is badly run, RTM or buying the freehold fixes the cause, not the symptom — and if your lease is nearing 80 years, deal with it this year, not eventually.

Do this now

Fifteen minutes tonight: find two documents. (1) Your lease — or your Land Registry title — and write down the years remaining. If it is under 90, diary a reminder to get lease-extension advice this year; under 82, treat it as urgent. (2) Your last service-charge demand and summary. If you have never seen the accounts behind it, send the section 21 request this week — one short letter, keep a copy. Those two documents are the foundation of every leasehold right on this page.

Got a demand or notice you don’t understand? Put it through Decode. This is general information, not legal advice — free, expert leasehold help comes from LEASE, the government-funded Leasehold Advisory Service, and Citizens Advice.

Related guides — home & property

Buying a home Tenant fees Shared ownership Repairs & disrepair Find a professional

Source verification Primary sources: LEASE — the Leasehold Advisory Service (government-funded free advice for leaseholders in England & Wales; Section 20 consultation guidance; tribunal application guidance; forfeiture guidance), GOV.UK — Leasehold property, Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and the House of Commons Library briefing “Leasehold reform in England and Wales: what’s happening and when?” (CBP-10653). Last verified 6 July 2026. Service charges (confidence High): reasonableness + reasonable standard (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.19); written summary of costs (s.21) and inspection of invoices/receipts (s.22); Section 20 consultation triggers — major works over £250 per leaseholder, qualifying long-term agreements over £100 per leaseholder per year — with recovery capped at £250/£100 where consultation is skipped without tribunal dispensation; challenge route to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England / Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales. Tribunal fees (qualitative by design): fixed application + hearing fees, revised by the April 2026 Fees Amendment Order — amounts deliberately not printed; check GOV.UK. Ground rent (confidence High): peppercorn on most new leases from 30 June 2022 (retirement 1 April 2023) under the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, admin charges banned; existing leases unchanged. Forfeiture brakes (confidence High): Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 ss.167–168 — no forfeiture action for arrears unless over £350 or outstanding 3+ years, and no s.146 notice without admission or a court/tribunal determination. LFRA 2024 commencement (confidence High, date-checked): two-year ownership requirement abolished from 31 January 2025 (s.27, SI 2025/57); Right to Manage changes from 3 March 2025 (ss.49–50 — non-residential limit 25%→50%, costs). Stated as NOT in force (confidence High): 990-year extensions, marriage-value abolition and the new valuation scheme (rates consultation expected 2026; freeholders’ High Court challenges dismissed 24 October 2025), the ban on new leasehold houses, standardised service-charge reporting — today’s lease-extension route remains the 1993 Act 90-year peppercorn extension for flats (1967 Act for houses), with marriage value still payable below 80 years. Announced, not law: the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (January 2026) — proposed £250/year cap on pre-2022 ground rents falling to a peppercorn after 40 years, indicatively around late 2028. Qualitative by design: collective-enfranchisement mechanics, Building Safety Act 2022 leaseholder protections (11m+/5-storey qualifying leases, cladding costs protected, capped non-cladding contributions — detail turns on the building), typical lease lengths and lender practice around short leases. Scope: England (Wales shares most of the statutory framework but uses the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal; leasehold of this kind barely exists in Scotland; Northern Ireland differs). Not legal advice — free help from LEASE and Citizens Advice.

Leasehold rights — common questions

Can I refuse to pay a service charge I think is too high?

Don’t simply withhold it — that risks arrears, lender involvement and ultimately forfeiture proceedings. The safe route: pay what is undisputed, ask in writing for the section 21 summary and the receipts behind the rest, and challenge the disputed amount at the First-tier Tribunal, which decides what is actually reasonable and payable. The tribunal can rule on charges you have already paid, too. Free process advice from LEASE.

My freeholder wants £8,000 each for a new roof — can they just bill us?

Not without consultation. Works costing any leaseholder more than £250 require the formal Section 20 process — notices, your observations, estimates, contractor nomination. If it didn’t happen and the tribunal hasn’t granted dispensation, the law caps recovery at £250 per leaseholder. If it did happen, you can still challenge whether the cost is reasonable. Ask for the consultation papers before you pay anything.

Is ground rent being abolished on my existing lease?

Not yet. The 2022 Act only covers new leases (peppercorn since 30 June 2022). For pre-2022 leases, the government’s draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (January 2026) proposes a £250-a-year cap falling to a peppercorn after 40 years — but it is a draft, and the indicated timing is around late 2028. Until it becomes law, your lease terms stand. A statutory lease extension reduces your ground rent to a peppercorn as part of the deal — sometimes the stronger move.

Do I still have to wait two years before extending my lease?

No — that rule is gone. Since 31 January 2025 (Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, s.27) you can claim a statutory lease extension or, for a house, the freehold, from the day you become the registered owner. The extension itself is still the current 90-year peppercorn deal for flats — the 990-year regime and the abolition of marriage value are legislated but not yet in force.

Our managing agent is hopeless — what can we actually do?

Three tiers. First, a formal complaint — agents must belong to a redress scheme (the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme) that can order compensation. Second, Right to Manage: qualifying leaseholders (broadly half the flats joining) can take over the block’s management through an RTM company without proving any fault — and since March 2025 you mostly don’t pay the freeholder’s costs. Third, buying the freehold together (collective enfranchisement) ends the arrangement permanently. LEASE advises on all three, free.

Sources: Service charges, Section 20, tribunal & forfeiture · LEASE — the Leasehold Advisory Service · GOV.UK — Leasehold property · Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 ss.19–22 & s.20 · Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 ss.167–168 · Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 · Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 + Commencement Regulations 2025 · House of Commons Library CBP-10653 · GOV.UK Building Safety Act leaseholder-protection guidance. SortedUK is not a law firm and this is general information, not legal advice. Free help: LEASE (lease-advice.org) · Citizens Advice. Last reviewed: 6 July 2026.

Leasehold rights — service charges, ground rent & the 2024 reforms