Nick Sanderson, chief executive at Audley Group, said: “Reforms to leasehold are welcome and the creation of a taskforce underlines the government’s intent to make continued change in this part of the property market.
“In housing with care schemes leasehold has been used where there is intensive operational management including services beyond just property management.
“The lease clearly describes those services and how they are paid for.
“Providers are responsible for being completely transparent on the different fees that property owners pay and ARCO, with the support of the retirement living market, has worked hard to create a consumer code which we fully support.
“If leasehold is modified we will need to ensure in the future it allows for provision of a full range of services or that a form of tenure exists which can ensure the continued supply of much needed housing with care.”
Jonathan Frankel, a specialist in leasehold enfranchisement law, at Cavendish Legal Group, added: “This will be extremely welcome news for millions of people who have felt trapped due to the way leasehold agreements were weighted too heavily in favour of the freehold owner.
“These reforms give those people the opportunity to effectively extend their lease forever, going from 50 or 90 years up to 990.
“This was the recommendation of the Law Commission which we have always supported.
“Not only will it provide security for the homeowner, but also ensures they will be able to maximise the value of the property when it comes to selling, as it will be a lot more appealing with a longer lease term.
“It’s likely this reform will open the floodgates and lead to thousands of homeowners wishing to extend their lease now that they can.
“However, it’s important to remember that this is still a fairly specialist area of property law and conveyancing.
“Brokers working with clients who are looking to extend their lease should be looking to work with conveyancers which have a track record in this area and understand the law around leasehold enfranchisement.
“At ONP, we are specialists in the area of leasehold enfranchisement, dealing with several thousand cases each year.
“We are expanding our dedicated department and introducing new technology to make the process quicker, more efficient and ultimately less costly.
“Without that expertise in place to ensure a smooth process to extend the lease or buy the freehold, homeowners could yet be left disappointed, which is not the purpose of these reforms.”