[2025] EWHC 2751 (Admin)

In December 2017 the Law Commission published its report entitled “Thirteenth Programme of Law Reform” (No.377). The residential leasehold project was to begin by addressing three priority areas identified by Government. The first related to a review of commonhold, why it had failed so far and what reforms are needed for it to operate successfully, the second to leasehold enfranchisement and the third to unfair terms in residential leaseholds (including ground rents). The Law Commission referred to “an extensive list of highly significant problems with residential leasehold law”, and to a number of consultees who had criticised the “inconsistency, complexity and (many say) unfairness in the legislation governing enfranchisement” ([2.32]). The Commission said that in relation to enfranchisement it would “look at ways to simplify the procedure and make the valuation fairer and more transparent” ([2.33(2)]). The Commission also noted that the usual provisions for regulating unfair terms in contracts were of limited assistance, because only the original tenant was effectively able to challenge the fairness of a term by virtue of the circumstances in which it was agreed ([2.46]). When referring to concern about unfair terms in residential leases, the Law Commission acknowledged the work in this area of the APPG.