Real Estate Bulletin - November 2025

UK Budget 2025

Read our expert analysis and commentary on the economic and tax aspects of the 2025 UK Budget here. Measures covered include:

• Capital allowances: new first-year allowance and reduced main rate writing-down allowance
• Dividend, savings and property income taxes
• Non-resident capital gains and UK property rich conditions
• New charge for owners of high-value residential property (the ‘mansion tax’)
• ATED: removal of time limit for claims to relief
• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

Some additional points of note for real estate:

• Further to the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, the government announced that in the ‘next few weeks’ it ‘will be consulting on measures to create a new right for leaseholders to request a gigabit broadband connection and a duty for freeholders not to unreasonably refuse the request’.
• Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final report on its market study into housebuilding, the budget confirms the government’s plans to consult on privately managed estates in England. The government notes it wishes to consult to ensure homeowners can ‘hold their estate managers to account for costs they pay to maintain public amenities such as roads, play areas and open spaces’. It also plans to consult on ‘reducing the prevalence of these privately managed estates in future’. Measures are contained in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 in relation to regulation of estate management – although they are not yet in force. The government has also previously announced it intends to look at further reforms, which we can expect to see in the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill when it is published. The Law Commission’s 14th Programme of Law Reform includes a project looking at the management of housing estates.
• The government launched a consultation on further changes to permitted development rights to support the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
• From 1 April 2026, the government is introducing two permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000. The government is also introducing a high-value business rates multiplier for properties with rateable values of £500,000 or more.

Renters’ Rights Act 2025 – implementation timetable

Although the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA) received Royal Assent at the end of October, its provisions are not yet in force. On 13 November 2025, the government published its implementation roadmap.

You can read more about the roadmap here.

Defective Premises and Proportionate Remedies: Guidance from the TCC

In Mallas v Persimmon Homes Limited, the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) considered the appropriate measure of damages for defective building works, both in contract and under the Defective Premises Act 1972 (DPA). In reaching its decision, the TCC addressed the application of the 30-year retrospective limitation period under the DPA, clarified the scope of the ‘fit for habitation’ standard, and reaffirmed the importance of proportionality and cost-effectiveness in selecting remedial schemes.

You can read more about this here.

Valid VAT invoices and HMRC's discretion

We take a look at the recent FTT decision in Eurocent (Buckingham) Ltd which demonstrates that the question whether a VAT invoice is valid is separate to whether the relevant supplies took place.