The long-awaited Government response to last year's consultation on service charges and strengthening ‘leaseholder’ (but also covering tenants) protections on charges has now been published. But only in part. The response published on 15 July 2026 only covers those changes which will be implemented under the framework of changes set out in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and only affects England. There will be separate responses about other changes covered in the consultation (e.g. section 20 consultation) and the Welsh Government will publish its own response.

With 1,356 responses to the consultation (72% of which were made by individual leaseholders and tenants, and one of which was ours), 205 questions and such diverse opinions given to some of the questions, it is understandable why we have waited for this publication. The Government has been clear that leasehold reform is complex and that it wants to get it right. It is evident from the response that it has carefully considered the submissions made, particularly because of:

• Sufficient timescales for implementation of the changes, given practical and system changes that will be needed; and
• Different approaches for tenants of private registered providers (PRPs) (in view of STAIRS requirements coming into force in October 2026 - see more on that here), local authority leaseholders and fixed service charge payers in respect of some of the changes.

As a reminder, this consultation does not apply to local authority tenants paying service charges.

So what do we know?

We have set out a summary of the key points and changes below: the response has to be read in full for all the detail.

Annual report

• Landlords will need to send an annual report in a prescribed format to service charge payers, largely in the format set out in the consultation but with some changes (e.g. less information on major works and declarations of any relationships between the landlord and any third party). It has to be sent by post (unless the leaseholder agrees to receive digitally).
• The prescribed form will be different for those who pay a fixed service charge and those who pay event fees. If an intermediate landlord is awaiting information from a superior landlord, it can send the annual report without that information, explaining the reasons why.
• This requirement will not apply to PRP tenants.
• Private landlords will be given 12 months' notice of implementation, and social landlords 24 months.

Service charge demand

• Landlords will need to send:
  • A standardised service charge demand form, to be accompanied by an annual budget - with high-level headings - for the relevant block, building or development showing a comparison to the previous financial year;
  • A standardised service charge reconciliation demand form with final accounts; and
  • If relevant, a standardised interim service charge demand form where landlords change the amounts required to be paid during the financial year.
• These standardised forms will be the ‘base’ requirements: landlords would be free to provide additional information .  Again, these will be mainly in the form set out in the consultation, with some minor amendments, and will have to be sent by post (unless the leaseholder agrees to receive digitally).
• There will be different prescribed forms for local authority landlords.
• Private landlords will be given 12 months' notice of implementation, and social landlords 24 months.

Future demand notices

• Replacing the current ‘section 20B notice’ (where there is no set form), there will be a prescribed future demand notice that will be introduced in 2027.  This will include further information than that set out in the consultation, to provide greater transparency and understanding.
• This is not relevant to fixed service charge payers.
• At this time (so a different approach may still be taken in the future), the Government will not exercise its power to make Regulations to cap costs where the time limit or estimate set out in the initial future demand notice is exceeded.

Right to obtain information on request

• Strengthening current rights to information on request, the Government will prescribe a list of information that landlords must provide to leaseholders on request relating to service charges and management, maintenance, repair, improvement and insurance of their building. That information can go back up to 6 years, can still be inspected in person and reasonable arrangements for inspecting can be extended for up to 3 months. The deadline for providing the information will be on a sliding scale (e.g. allowing longer when large volumes of and/or historic information are requested).
• There will be a different (and smaller) list for PRP landlords with respect to tenants.
• There will be some closely defined exceptions and provisions for vexatious requests.
• These changes will come into force in 2027. There will be guidance about the operation of inspection rights.

Administration charge schedule

• There will also be a prescribed form of administration charge schedule, setting out clearly demanded or proposed amounts, and the charge or method of calculation.
• These will be included with the annual report and must also be provided on request.
• Landlords will be given 12 months' notice of the implementation of this change.

Insurance

• There will be more transparency about building insurance, with landlords having to:
  • Disclose relationships with brokers and insurances;
  • Provide clear information about procurement, pricing and cover,
• All within clear deadlines.
• Landlords will be given 12 months' notice of the implementation of this change.

Service charge accounts

• The form and minimum information to be included will be prescribed by the Government to include clear financial and comparative information. They will need to be signed off by qualified persons, with an accompanying accountant's statement.
• There will be different arrangements for PRP and local authority landlords, given the existing frameworks which apply to them, including no requirement for an external qualified accountant to prepare the report for PRP landlords.
• Private landlords will be given 12 months' notice of implementation, and social landlords 24 months.

Litigation costs

• The current section 20C position will be reversed: the Tribunal must make an order to allow a landlord to recover costs through the service or administration charge.
• There will also be a new right for leaseholders to recover their own litigation costs in specified circumstances.
• There will be a 3-month implementation period for these changes from the time the Regulations are passed. They will not apply to ongoing cases.

What is next?

The changes require Regulations to be passed - these will set out the details supporting these announcements and final forms of prescribed documents. We await publication of those later in the year. 

In the meantime, landlords can start preparing (if they haven't already) for the changes, especially as the proposed prescribed forms are not going to change substantially to those set out in the consultation. 

We'll continue to blog about the changes, so look out for those and our hugely popular annual service charges webinar that we will be advertising shortly.