Welcome to our monthly newsletter for property landlords. We hope you find this informative and please contact us to discuss any matters further.
The Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LAFRA) received Royal Assent just before the 2024 general election and was welcomed by leasehold homeowners because it promised to make it easier and cheaper to extend a lease or buy a freehold.
LAFRA measures have not been implemented, however, mainly because the government was waiting for the outcome of a legal challenge by a group of freeholders. The group lost their challenge in the High Court in September 2025, but the Commons Housing Committee has confirmed that the group has applied to appeal the decision.
It is unclear whether the new appeal will further delay LAFRA’s implementation.
In Places for People Homes Ltd v HMRC [2025] TC09695, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found that supplies of premises maintenance services made by flat maintenance trust companies were not exempt supplies of land.
VAT legislation exempts supplies of land as VAT. Maintenance services are standard rated at 20%. In some cases, when maintenance services are supplied ancillary to land, the services can also be VAT-exempt.
Places for People Homes Ltd argued that flat maintenance service fees paid to maintenance trusts were ancillary to the supply of the land lease for their flat. This was an unusual argument because the supply of land was being made by lessors who were separate entities, unrelated to the flat maintenance trusts.
The FTT found that:
The High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS) was announced at Budget 2025 and is set to be introduced from April 2028. Known as ‘Mansion Tax’, the surcharge has been both welcomed and criticised in equal measure.
More information can be found here.
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government intends to give Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England the power to create local overnight visitor levies.
Similar levies have already been introduced in Wales and Scotland.
A consultation was published on 26 November, asking for views on the design of the new power, including:
The consultation closes on 18 February 2026 and can be viewed here.
In September 2024, Gwynedd introduced a requirement for planning permission to turn a residential property into a second home or holiday let. The requirement is known as ‘Article 4’.
The campaign group ‘People of Gwynedd Against Article 4’ launched a legal challenge to Article 4, arguing that the decision to introduce Article 4 had been approved by the Gwynedd cabinet.
The campaign group lost their original application for judicial review but were given permission to appeal. In September, the High Court ruled that councillors were ‘materially misled’ by the reports that they used to make their decision to introduce Article 4.
The local authority has applied to appeal against the decision but for now, Article 4 does not apply.
