The National Leasehold Campaign has hit out at reports of a new group considering legal action against the government’s leasehold reforms, accusing unnamed interests of attempting to frustrate changes designed to benefit homeowners.
The campaign group said it believes the threat of legal action amounts to “lawfare” by vested interests seeking to delay or derail reform at a critical stage. It argues that any challenge would represent a last-ditch effort by those with a financial stake in the existing leasehold system to protect their interests.
The comments follow reports that an anonymous organisation is exploring legal avenues to challenge elements of the government’s leasehold reform programme.
Katie Kendrick, founder of the National Leasehold Campaign, has shared the following thoughts in response to the newly emerged campaign, which she warns represents a coordinated, last-minute attempt by vested interests to stall and water down long-overdue leasehold reform.
Kendrick said:
“This isn’t grassroots campaigning — it’s lawfare by vested interests using anonymous fronts to protect profits and delay justice for millions of leaseholders.
It is frankly astonishing – but entirely predictable – that yet another anonymous campaign group has emerged at the eleventh hour to threaten legal action against long-overdue leasehold reform.
There is a clear and growing pattern. Time and again, loosely defined groups present themselves as ‘property rights or ‘freeholder’ campaigners yet refuse to disclose who is funding or driving them. They remain faceless instead of standing openly behind their positions and appear only when reform threatens their interests.
When shadowy groups appear at the eleventh hour, it’s not democracy — it’s lawfare designed to stall reform and protect vested interests.
Meanwhile, where were these voices over the past decade?
For years, millions of leaseholders across the country have been trapped in an outdated and deeply unfair, feudal system. Reform has not appeared overnight. It has been driven by the relentless efforts of a genuine grassroots movement — the National Leasehold Campaign — which has spent nearly a decade exposing spiralling costs, unfair ground rents and the complete lack of control people have over their own homes.
During that time, those now threatening legal action were silent — content to benefit from a broken status quo.
Let’s be clear: this is not grassroots campaigning. This is lawfare.
Anonymous lobbyists hiding behind ‘property rights’ claims are using lawfare to protect profits and block long-overdue justice for leaseholders.
Leaseholders have spent years facing powerful interests with deep pockets and significant legal and financial resources. This is not about property rights — it’s about powerful interests weaponising the law to protect profits at the expense of ordinary homeowners.
The language now being deployed — alarmist claims of ‘expropriation’ and threats of huge compensation demands — only highlights how far removed these arguments are from the lived experiences of ordinary people.
Behind these arguments are millions of households struggling with opaque charges, escalating costs, and a system that continues to prioritise investor returns over basic fairness. The financial and emotional toll this system places on leaseholders cannot be overstated.
These last-minute interventions do not undermine the case for reform — they reinforce it.
The leasehold system has disproportionately favoured freeholders for generations. Reform is about restoring fairness, accountability, and fundamental property rights to homeowners.
The public must not be distracted by anonymous voices seeking to defend outdated privileges.
Leaseholders have waited long enough.
The government must stand firm, resist this lawfare, and accelerate the delivery of leasehold reform to finally bring this broken system to an end.”
Government threatened with major legal action over property reforms
