Looking ahead in real estate...2026

In 2025, we have seen the Renters' Rights Act 2025 gain Royal Assent and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill include an unexpected ban on upward only rent reviews in business tenancies.  In March 2025, the government issued its Commonhold White Paper, alongside an announcement that in relation to home ownership it was the 'beginning of the end for the 'feudal' leasehold system'.  The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has progressed through parliament and is now awaiting Royal Assent. The government has also issued various consultations including an updated consultation on increasing the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in privately rented homes by 2030 and also a consultation on improving the home buying process. October saw the start of a phased introduction of Awaab's Law for socially rented homes. The Building Safety Act 2022 and, in particular, the Building Safety Regulator and associated delays has remained in the headlines.  There have been numerous other developments in addition to the ones listed and it has overall been a busy year for legal developments impacting real estate.

So, what can we expect in 2026?

Renters' Rights Act 2025

The RRA will introduce significant changes to the residential private rented sector in England.  The government recently announced its implementation roadmap and 1 May 2026 is the expected date for the Phase 1 measures to come into effect.  On this date, Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) and section 21 'no-fault evictions' will be abolished and the new Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs) regime will be introduced. Reformed possession grounds, the ban on rental bidding, anti-discrimination measures, and a tenant's right to request permission to keep a pet are among other measures which will come into force on this date. Later in 2026, we can expect to see a regional rollout of the PRS database for landlords and local councils. The government will also look to appoint a scheme administrator for the PRS Landlord Ombudsman.

Those operating in the private rented sector will need to prepare for these changes. Until the Act has been implemented, there will inevitably be uncertainty regarding the practical and operational impact of the RRA. For example, it remains unclear to what extent the new two-month tenant break right will affect tenancy lengths, or how many tenants will challenge initial rents or annual rent increases.

Once the measures are in force, there is likely to be a significant focus on how the justice system will adapt to the RRA and in particular, whether concerns as to the ability of the courts to process possession claims and also the new procedures for rent increases were well founded. Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, gave a speech at the Housing Law Practitioners' Association Conference on 4 December 2025 in which he discussed the RRA and its likely impact. In this speech he noted that 'HMCTS is busy building an entirely new online platform for possession and property claims' and that the 'first iteration of that new platform is expected to be released in the late Spring of 2026'.  It therefore appears that this new platform will launch at a similar time to phase 1 of the RRA coming into effect.

Residential reform...

Although it received Royal Assent in 2024, much of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 has yet to come into force.  Measures yet to come into force include reforming the enfranchisement process for both houses and flats, banning the creation of new leasehold houses (save for exceptional circumstances), increased rights for residential leaseholders in relation to service charges and other costs, increased regulation in relation to estate management and the introduction of a mandatory redress scheme. Some consultations in relation to the Act have already been published, and others are expected imminently, so 2026 is likely to see further developments in relation to implementation. 

Commonhold also has the potential to be a major feature of 2026. Following the government's Commonhold White Paper, the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill was expected in the 'second half of 2025'.  However, with only a few weeks of 2025 left, it remains to be seen whether the government will meet this target.  The government has previously stated that the Bill's central focus will be 'reinvigorating commonhold through the introduction of a comprehensive new legal framework'. The government has also said that the Bill will regulate ground rents for existing leaseholders, remove the threat of forfeiture and strengthen the rights of freeholders on private estates.

If the government looks to keep on track with its proposals in this area we can also expect to see a consultation on the 'best approach to banning new leasehold flats'. Again, whether this will squeak into 2025 remains to be seen.  

However, whether or not the government meets its stated targets of publishing the draft Bill and consultation on banning new leasehold flats in 2025, it seems certain the proposals will be a feature of 2026.

Ban on upward only rent reviews in business tenancies - the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

The Bill, which includes a ban on upward only rent reviews in business tenancies, is making speedy progress through parliament.  It is now at Committee Stage in the House of Lords, although the dates for this are yet to be announced.

However, it is unclear if the Bill does become law next year whether the measures in relation to upward only rent review would come into force straight away.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill

With the Bill now only awaiting Royal Assent this may even make it into 2025...

Update 18/12/205: The Planning and Infrastructure Bill received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and is now the Planning and Infrastructure Act. The government press release is here.

EPCS and MEES

Responses to the following government consultations have not yet been published:  

• Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime (covering both domestic and commercial EPCs)

• Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: 2025 update

Unless they appear in the next few days we should look ahead to 2026 for updates in these areas.

The above two consultations are closely linked, with the outcome of the consultation on changes to the EPC regime needing to be finalised before the final policy decisions on higher MEES for the privately rented homes can be made. Proposals in the MEES consultation are that, for privately rented homes, properties will be required to meet the equivalent to achieving an EPC C under the current regime and that the new MEES requirement would apply to new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies from 2030.

There has been no further official government guidance on MEES in relation to commercial property.  The most recent consultation was published by the Conservative government in 2021.  This proposed a phased implementation of the EPC B by 2030 requirement, with EPC C by 2027 set as an interim milestone. However, in the 2021 consultation the first compliance window began in April 2025. The government's response to the Committee on Climate Change 2024 progress report noted that it was 'planning to publish the response to the Non-Domestic Private Rented Sector MEES consultation early in 2025'.  However, this has not yet been issued. In June 2025, the CCC published its 'Progress in reducing emissions - 2025 report to Parliament' and noted that there 'is a continuing lack of policies for decarbonising commercial buildings'.

Contractual controls over land

In January 2024 the government published a consultation and draft statutory instrument seeking views on its plans to publish a 'large' dataset which would contain information about certain 'contractual control' agreements in relation to land in England and Wales.  The framework for this regime is contained in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. Agreements such as option agreements, conditional contracts, and pre-emption agreements are set out as being in scope. You can read more about the consultation here. 

Although no response to the consultation has been published, in February 2025, Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) wrote to the Land Registry setting out the government's priorities for the Land Registry over the next twelve months.  Fourth on the list was the 'rapid design and delivery of the digital systems required to collect and publish details of contractual control arrangements, ahead of the planned full public launch of the data collection system in 2026'.  HM Land Registry acknowledged this requirement in its March 2025 response noting that the 'introduction of contractual control arrangements will be a major step forward in market transparency. We will work quickly with your officials to define the service design and delivery plan, ensuring it is digital by default and aligned with wider housing market reforms'.

Other developments

On 4th September 2025 the Law Commission launched its 14th Programme of Law Reform. Various real estate projects are in scope, this is alongside existing projects on chancel repair liability and potential reforms to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and the security of tenure regime for commercial property.  We may see some of these projects start to progress in 2026. 

In relation to potential reforms to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, although the Law Commission's provisional conclusion from its first consultation on the topic was that the existing "contracting-out" model is the right model, a second consultation will now follow. This will focus on the technical detail of how the 1954 Act might be reformed, including potential reform to the contracting-out procedure. The Law Commission has stated it will 'confirm timings for publication of the second consultation paper in due course' but again we may see some developments in this space in 2026.

We are also expecting to see refinements to the approval process for the Gateways regime under the Building Safety Act 2022.  A cross-party House of Lords Committee has also published a report making recommendations for improvements. The Building Safety Levy will come into effect from 1 October 2026. On 17 December 2025 the government published a consultation seeking views on the government’s proposals for regulatory reform and the development of a single construction regulator.