What did the King's Speech mean for residential property?
The latest King’s Speech formally outlined sweeping legislative reforms for residential property in England and Wales. The government introduced the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill to phase out leasehold ownership for new flats and cap existing ground rents, alongside a Remediation Bill to aggressively target unsafe cladding, and a Social Housing Renewal Bill to overhaul the Right to Buy. This information is current as of May 2026.
What are the key leasehold and commonhold reforms?
There are three main changes. Phasing out leaseholds: the government plans to phase out the use of leasehold for new flats, making ‘commonhold’ ownership the default standard. Ground rent caps: ground rents on existing long residential leases will be capped at £250 per year, which will reduce to zero after 40 years. Abolition of forfeiture: the right for landlords to forfeit a long residential lease for breach of covenant will be abolished and replaced with a fairer enforcement scheme.
What does the Remediation Bill introduce?
The Remediation Bill places a strict legal duty on freeholders and ‘responsible persons’ to promptly identify and fix defective cladding. It also introduces a new backstop allowing third parties such as Homes England to step in and execute work if responsible parties delay, with sanctions for non-compliance.
What changes does the Social Housing Renewal Bill introduce?
The bill increases the minimum Right to Buy eligibility period from 3 to 10 years and completely exempts newly built social homes from the scheme for 35 years. It also introduces stronger protections for domestic abuse victims and a duty on registered providers to proactively publish management information.
What does the Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill mean in practice?
The bill introduces maximum payment terms of 60 days and enforces mandatory interest on late payment at 8% above Bank of England base rate. The draft bill also proposes to ban retention payments in parts of the construction sector.
What happens next?
All bills will now proceed through parliament over the coming months and we will provide further detail once the bills are formally published. In the meantime, if you’d like to talk through what any of these changes mean for your specific portfolio, or to attend a briefing, please get in touch with the Workman Residential team.
Source: The Property Institute and Gov.uk
Dallas Craik, Head of Residential Management
+44 (0)7596 878 145 | dallas.craik@workman.co.uk
Caroline Burchell, Senior Residential Management
+44 (0)7512 301093 | caroline.burchell@workman.co.uk
