If 2025 proved anything, it’s that living on a privately managed estate is not as simple as many residents expected when they bought their homes. For leaseholders and increasingly freehold homeowners on new estates, charges, covenants and responsibilities have become a source of confusion, frustration and, at times, anger.
Much of this has been amplified by the growing reach of LAFRA (Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act). The Act has rightly strengthened consumer protection, improved transparency, and given homeowners more of a voice. But 2025 also revealed a difficult truth in that more rights don’t always mean the underlying system becomes easier to navigate.
As managing agents, we’ve been at the centre of this shift. And while we’re often seen as the face of decisions, the reality is far more complex.
A Misunderstood Profession in a Complicated System
Before looking at the year itself, it’s worth naming something that became increasingly obvious in 2025, in that block and estate management is a complex and often misunderstood profession.
Most people only see a fraction of what we do. Behind the scenes, agents are required to understand:
- Property law
- Health and safety
- Building safety and fire regulations
- Budgeting and accounting
- Conflict resolution
- Project management
- Insurance
- Company secretarial duties
- Contractor oversight
- Estate maintenance
- Emergency response
And that’s on a quiet day.
Every day is different, and every day requires wearing multiple hats – mediator, translator, educator, investigator, manager, and sometimes calm voice in the middle of someone’s very stressful situation. It’s a role that demands clarity, empathy and accuracy, often at the same time.
2025 highlighted just how invisible much of this work is, and how easily the complexity is overlooked until something goes wrong.
Looking Back at 2025
1. Leaseholders became more empowered, but also more overwhelmed
LAFRA brought with it clearer rights, more accessible information and stronger routes for challenge. This was overdue, and many residents felt heard for the first time. But empowerment arrived with a wave of changing guidance, uncertain interpretations, and a system that still feels fragmented.
Leaseholders wanted answers from someone and in many cases, that someone was the managing agent, even when the issue at hand wasn’t within our control.
2. Confusion around private estates increased
One theme that dominated 2025 was “Why am I paying for this?”
And people were right to ask. Many homeowners were surprised to learn that their roads, open spaces, lighting, play areas or drainage systems were not adopted by the local authority. Instead, their land titles require them, through covenants, to contribute to the upkeep.
This often feels unfair, especially when council tax is already being paid. Agents understand that frustration.
As a managing agent, we didn’t build the estate, write the covenants, nor did we sell the property. We were appointed because the developer, residents’ management company or landowner needed someone to manage the legal and practical responsibilities that fall to homeowners under the structure of the estate. It’s a complex framework, and 2025 showed just how misunderstood it still is.
3. Agents found themselves caught between rights and rulebooks
Leaseholders increasingly exercised their rights to challenge costs, ask for evidence, request detailed breakdowns, and question historic decisions. This is good. It raises standards across the industry.
Being empathetic while also delivering difficult messages became part of the daily job.
Looking Ahead – What 2026 Is Likely to Bring
1. LAFRA will continue to reshape expectations
As reforms continue to take effect in 2026:
- Homeowners will expect faster answers
- More detailed evidence for spend
- Greater transparency in all processes
- Clearer rights to challenge decisions
This isn’t a bad thing. But it will require agents to work even harder on communication and record-keeping.
2. More residents’ management companies will take control, but will still need guidance
RMCs will continue to step forward with stronger opinions and more involvement. Yet many will still rely heavily on clear advice from their agents and in turn, agents must seek relevant legal advice along the way.
3. Expectation gaps will widen before they close
As people become more aware of their rights, the gap between what residents expect and what the covenants legally require may widen temporarily.
Agents will need to navigate this with patience, empathy and honest education.
4. Private estates will face more scrutiny
With local authorities showing no sign of adopting more land, homeowners will push harder for value for money, clear long term maintenance plans to accompany budgets, and accountability from developers and landowners.
2026 may bring more public focus on the structure of private estate charges, and possibly more calls for reform.
5. The role of the agent will evolve
Managing agents aren’t the rule-makers. We are interpreters, coordinators, and communicators. In 2026, our role will increasingly look like explaining why obligations exist, supporting leaseholders in understanding their rights and responsibilities and mediating between what residents want and what the covenants require.
We are here to facilitate the lease or transfer document, not to enforce arbitrary rules but to ensure the estate functions in a way that protects everyone’s property and investment.
In summary, 2025 was a year of rising voices, rising expectations and rising awareness. Leaseholders and freehold homeowners gained more rights, more knowledge and more confidence and they deserved that change.
But those rights sit within a framework that most people didn’t choose, didn’t write, and often weren’t fully informed about when buying their homes.
Agents didn’t design that framework either. We stepped into it to deliver a role that is at times technical, legal and emotional, and frequently all at once.
People just want their homes to feel fair, safe and well-looked after. And despite the challenges, that is exactly what we’re here to help deliver.
