Enfranchisement practitioners may not have to wait much longer for the BSA 2022 loophole to be closed…

An unintended consequence of the BSA 2022 has been that where “qualifying leases”, that benefit from substantial protections in relation to the recovery of remedial costs, are extended (and therefore granted after 14 February 2022), they lose all of the valuable protections afforded to them by the legislation.

When brought to their attention, the Government confirmed that there was an intention to legislate in order to remedy this issue, and so it is encouraging to note that there is a proposed amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill 2003, to address this point.  Although, disappointingly, it seems as though there is some opposition to this.

The proposal is for a new section to be added: s119A, which will confirm that any qualifying lease that is varied, or subject to any surrender or re-grant, will remain a qualifying lease, with retrospective effect.

In all honesty, the brief wording looks a lot like a rush job (much like the BSA 2022 itself), so although many practitioners will no doubt be pleased that this is on the agenda in some form, they will also be hoping that it will be finessed before going any further.  That might be wishful thinking though!

We’ll just need to watch this space…

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