The Development of Leasehold Enfranchisement in the UK

In the past we have used the term enfranchisement to refer to women receiving the vote in this country. However historically, enfranchisement means to release a person from slavery and setting them free to act on their own. In modern day we now use this term in property law.

From there, enfranchisement became closely associated with feudal tenants; tenants who were at the mercy of the lord of the manor, who could more or less rule their lives. But the term enfranchisement then became associated with the right of people who are long term leaseholders to be able to buy their freehold (freehold purchase) or in other cases the rights of long term leaseholders to be able to extend their lease. Sometimes this area is also known as leasehold reform.

It may be heartening however, to realise that the issue of leasehold enfranchisement has interested politicians since the end of the 19th Century. At this point in history many of those in power started to become concerned that the conditions experienced by the working classes were quite intolerable. So they had Royal Commissions established to look into working class conditions and one that reported in 1885 indicated that one dramatic way that conditions could be eased was through offering householders the right to acquire the freehold for their leases. Thus the idea of freehold purchase was born.