New legislation addresses issues obtaining fibre broadband in leasehold properties
There are challenges surrounding getting broadband in leasehold properties, which new legislation aims to address
Medieval property laws might seem a long way removed from home broadband provision, but millions of British tenants and homeowners will know there is a clear link.
A peculiarly English system of land registration acts as a brake on people being able to request and obtain broadband in leasehold properties.
As part of a wider overhaul of this discredited system, the recent King’s Speech included provision to address connectivity challenges currently facing 4.9 million dwellings.
Surprisingly, its origins extend back to the Doomsday Book…
It’s like a brand new doomsday
The Doomsday Book of 1089AD was a pioneering survey of England (and parts of Wales), assessing land ownership and calculating national wealth.
It introduced concepts like being a freeholder – having the permanent tenure of land and property, with the freedom to do whatever you wanted on that land.
With a fifth of the country owned by the appropriately named William the Conqueror, wealthy landowners were reluctant to cede control over their territory.
As a result, a leasehold system was devised, whereby landowners allowed ‘serfs’ to work on a plot of land without ownership rights.
In time, freeholders built properties on their land, renting or selling them to people known as leaseholders.
Even if a leaseholder bought a property, the freeholder retained legal ownership of the land it stood on, with the final say over whether the properties were demolished, rebuilt or upgraded.
By the 1920s, leases were being extended to a hundred or even a thousand years to give leaseholders more long-term security, but the freeholder’s control remained.
And because freehold property law requires clearly marked property boundaries on a map, the post-war explosion in flatted dwellings meant these properties had to be leasehold.
The only way out is through
Freeholders can flatly refuse to let leaseholders make significant changes to a building they rent or own, or to the land it stands in.
A recurring issue involves a request to dig through the front garden/path/driveway to facilitate the installation of fibre broadband from a connection in the street.
This even applies to leasehold houses, of which there are around 1.3 million, though blocks of flats comprise three quarters of leasehold dwellings.
Apartment buildings bring the added complications of multiple broadband connections being required – meaning more cabling, more holes, more sockets…
The resistance among freeholders to such work is reflected in 2025 Ordnance Survey data which showed less than 80 per cent of UK flats had access to gigabit-capable broadband.
Freeholders can reject fibre installation requests without reason, though some have legitimate concerns about low-quality installations causing damage which they then have to remediate.
Many a leaseholder has reluctantly abandoned attempts at obtaining full fibre, instead relying on whatever connection speed their Openreach line currently supports.
Reset and start again
The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill is currently making its laborious way through Parliament.
Having watered down a manifesto pledge to end the feudal leasehold system entirely, it will instead impose low ground rents and make it easier for leaseholders to buy out their freehold.
Crucially, it will establish a legal framework for commonhold in new flats, allocating full freehold rights and the ability to make modifications without needing freeholder approval.
In the meantime, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will introduce a legal right to request broadband in leasehold properties.
Freeholders can still refuse, much to the fury of leasehold campaigners, but they’ll now have to (a) acknowledge requests and (b) offer a reason for refusing to allow full fibre installation.
Valid reasons could include ISPs deciding it’s commercially unviable to proceed, or the freeholder proving it might irreparably damage the property or pose health and safety risks.
These are unlikely to be relevant defences in many cases, and an unresponsive freeholder could be bypassed with a court agreement, although the courts are already overwhelmed.
If you’re reading this in a leasehold property via a sluggish broadband connection, Royal Assent is expected by this time next year.
Full fibre broadband in leasehold properties won’t be an unrealistic prospect for much longer…
