With a new government on 5 July 2024 now a cert, it is time to think about what this means for UK conveyancers. Here are our own predictions for the year ahead.
Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024
As this non-controversial piece of legislation reached the statute book in the closing days of the Sunak government, it only remains for Starmer to issue regulations bringing it into force. We expect this to be amongst the first tasks for the new Labour government. The legislation is important because it changes the process for dealing with statutory residential lease extensions and enfranchisements as well as regulating freehold estate management.
Renters Reform Bill
This bill, which was already part way through parliament, was one of the legislative casualties of the general election. The key provision of this bill was the removal of section 21 non-fault evictions. Although the removal of section 21 evictions is not quite a roll-back to the bad old days of rent-controls, it will certainly make many would-be landlords and mortgage lenders think twice before going into this market. It may also lead to a loss in private rented accommodation as landlords sell up when tenants vacate instead of re-letting. When it was first introduced on 1 April, 1989, the ability of landlords to regain possession of their properties on two months notice was not particularly problematic because there was a healthy housing market, which made it easier for prospective tenants to pick and choose where they wanted to live and to negotiate how much they wanted to pay. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case because of the depletion of the social-rented sector. So our expectation is that the new government will waste no time in re- launching this bill and pushing it through to royal assent.
Right-to-buy
Unlike Scotland and Wales, we are not expecting the new government to abolish right-to-buy in its entirety but simply to scale it back, in terms of discount, to what was available when Gordon Brown left office in 2010. At that time, the maximum discount on a right-to-buy sale was capped at £16,000. Our expectation is that this £16,000 cap might be increased to reflect price-inflation but fall well short of the generous discounts introduced by David Cameron when he took power in 2010. What this means is that purchasing under right-to buy may no longer be the attractive proposition which it is today. There are also the transitional arrangements which will need to be put in place for right-to buy purchases which are underway at the time the new legislation is introduced. We are not expecting any changes to right-to-buy to operate retrospectively, which would mean that work-in-progress will be allowed to continue to completion of the transaction.
Reform of the Town Planning System
This is going to be the most difficult task for the incoming government as it will be trying to push back against a bureaucratic inertia which has built up over decades and in which the ‘No!’ lobby has remained supreme. It is not just about restoring the house building targets which had already existed until the recent abolition by the outgoing Conservative administration. It is about breaking through the treacle. The bottom line is that town planning is too politicised. With too many vested interests. It shouldn’t be like that. It’s about making the most efficient use of land. Key to breaking through this inertia is to simplify and speed up the appeals process, so that any developer who feels that their application is being frustrated by local politicians, can quickly get their planning application referred to a third party for determination.
V. Charles Ward
Solicitor and Legal Associate RTPI – 15th June 2024
BRUCE AND HOLLY 