Nine in Ten Leaseholders Regret Buying: What the Life Sentence Report Means for Sellers

Over the past two years, 78 percent of estate agents have taken at least one leasehold property off the market because it could not be sold. Not overpriced, not badly presented: unsaleable. That figure comes from Leasehold: Still a Life Sentence?, a report published on 15 July 2026 by Propertymark, the professional body for estate and letting agents, together with the National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) and the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (LKP).

The title is pointed. Propertymark first asked whether leasehold amounted to a life sentence in 2018 and revisited the question in 2023. The 2026 answer, drawn from a survey of 1,200 leaseholders and more than 200 member agents, is that very little has improved. Fewer than 1 percent of agents say selling a leasehold property has become easier.

What the Report Found

The finding behind this week's headlines is that 93 percent of leaseholders would not buy a leasehold property again. That is where the "nine in ten regret buying" coverage comes from, and it sits alongside a set of numbers that explain the mood.

• Service charges are rising fast. 86 percent of leaseholders saw their service charge increase over the past 24 months. Of those, 62 percent reported rises above 21 percent, and more than one in four reported rises above 60 percent.
• Challenging costs is hard. 89 percent said it is difficult to challenge charges they believe are unfair.
• Agents see the same problem from the other side. 74 percent of agents named onerous service charges as the main barrier to selling flats.

None of this will surprise anyone who has tried to sell a flat with a heavy service charge recently. Buyers can usually live with a high but stable figure; what they and their mortgage lenders struggle with is a figure that has jumped sharply and could jump again. Our guide to how service charges work covers what buyers look for in the accounts.

Where Reform Actually Stands

The report lands its hardest punch on the pace of reform. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LAFRA) was passed in May 2024, but only around 10 of its 125 sections are in force, and no new commencement regulations have been laid since February 2025. The provisions sellers care about most, including the abolition of marriage value on lease extensions, have no commencement date, and a freeholders' legal challenge is continuing in the Court of Appeal. Our April article on the growing uncertainty around leasehold reform set out that picture, and the report confirms it has not moved.

Katie Kendrick OBE, who founded the National Leasehold Campaign, told The Negotiator that progress has been "too slow, too limited, and too easily diluted", leaving too many leaseholders trapped, unable to sell and unable to move.

The government's response points forward. New protections are promised "as soon as possible from 2027", including annual building condition reports, standardised service charge demand forms and the right to see up to six years of maintenance invoices. The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill goes further, proposing to ban leasehold on new flats and cap ground rents at £250. All of it is genuinely significant; none of it helps a seller listing a flat this year.

What This Means If You Are Selling a Flat Now

A report like this describes the market average, not your flat. Saleability is decided by specifics: how many years are left on the lease, what the service charge is and what the accounts show, and whether the building has any unresolved safety issues. Plenty of leasehold flats still sell without drama. The ones that struggle usually share the problems the report describes, so the practical response is to deal with those head-on.

• Get the service charge picture straight before you list. A current statement, the last two years of accounts and a clear answer on any planned major works. Surprises in the management pack are one of the most common reasons leasehold sales stall.
• Disclose the awkward stuff up front. A buyer who knows about a rising charge or a pending bill prices it in. A buyer who finds out from their solicitor renegotiates or walks.
• Match the route to the flat. If an agent has used the word unsaleable, the realistic options are a reprice and relist with the estate agency, an auction or a direct sale to a cash buyer. The faster routes complete below open-market value, but for flats carrying heavy service charges the open-market value is already carrying that weight.

The report's authors want faster reform, and the government says stronger protection is coming from 2027. Both may prove true. A seller deciding what to do this year is working under today's rules, and today's rules reward preparation: clear accounts, early paperwork and a route matched to the flat you actually own.