When people talk about the King’s Speech, they often mix it up with the King’s Christmas Address, or with the film starring Colin Firth.
But we have just had the actual King’s Speech, on Wednesday 13 May. The parliamentary kind.
And if you’re a landlord, a seller, or even just considering your next move here in Herne Hill, it matters more than you might think.
First things first: what is the King’s Speech?
Every year, after a general election or at the start of a new parliamentary session, the King will address the House of Lords, reading out a speech – written entirely by the government of the day – setting out everything ‘my ministers and my government’ intend to do over the coming months.
You can consider it as the government’s official ‘to-do’ list – but dressed in ermine and read from a gilded throne.
Pomp and ceremony, regalia and splendour are not everyone’s cup of Darjeeling. Nevertheless, as far as it goes, this address is still one of the most significant political events in the British calendar.
Unlike a manifesto promise or a ministerial interview, the bills named in the King’s Speech are those that the government is formally committing to introduce. It’s as close to a guarantee as we can get, before a Bill becomes an Act – something the property world has come to know rather a lot about in the past few months.
One question I have heard raised a couple of times is whether there is any point in it at all, if we might have a Labour leadership contest that unseats and replaces the Prime Minister? At the time of writing, that is unconfirmed, but to illustrate just how fast-moving things are, when I sat down to write this piece, Wes Streeting – a short-odds favourite – was still Health Minister; by the time I had reached Paragraph 6, he had resigned.
As I type, there is no leadership battle announced – but it does feel we are edging closer.
Nevertheless – to respond to the question posed: is there any point? The answer is: yes. Whether Starmer is still Prime Minister by the summer or not, what is set down in the King’s Speech matters. But more detail on that shortly.
For now, back to the speech itself.
What was said in the King’s Speech 2026?
This year, much of what King Charles announced was focussed on security issues in light of global events, and wider economic, social and health matters. Nevertheless, there were a couple of points that we should pay attention to, that directly affect the housing market.
It is important to remember that whilst the King gives the speech, the speech itself is written by the government – and so it does reflect Downing Street’s legislative priorities, not the monarch’s personal views.
Each named bill is therefore a piece of legislation the government intends to pass. Some become law quickly; others will take months of parliamentary debate.
Two pieces of legislation were explicitly named that will have a direct bearing on property owners and buyers – so let’s take them in turn.
The Social Housing Renewal Bill
The first is the Social Housing Renewal Bill. The government has pledged to introduce legislation to “increase long-term investment in social housing.” For the broader market, it matters because the chronic shortage of social and affordable housing pushes more people into the private rented sector. It is something that is obviously a priority for us here at Petermans, which is why we have created a separate company – Petermans Housing Initiatives – in order to help address this major issue. It is a social issue, not just a housing issue, and it matters to us.
The shortage of social housing creates higher demand in the private rented space. That might sustain demand for landlords, so there is some perverse benefit to the problem. But it also puts upward pressure on rents and, as a result, on house prices generally. Over time, if this Social Housing Renewal Bill is implemented and works the way we hope it will, it will ease that pressure, creating more supply at the affordable end of the market, and in turn having a moderating effect on the wider market.
Nobody should expect overnight change; but the direction of travel is important.
The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill
The second proposed bill, and the one that warrants closest attention if you’re a leaseholder, a multi-unit building freeholder, or a buy-to-let investor with flats in your portfolio, is the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
King Charles on Wednesday said the following:
“My Ministers will bring forward legislation to increase long-term investment in social housing and to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents.”
Ground rent reform has been on the agenda for years, and various governments have taken partial steps towards implementing it, but this bill signals a further and firmer push.
If you own a leasehold flat, this is potentially very good news for your asset’s saleability. Ground rent charges (particularly the notorious “doubling” clauses) have made some leasehold properties almost unsellable in recent years, with mortgage lenders refusing to lend against them.
Bringing those rents under control could unlock value in flats that have been effectively frozen in the market.
If you hold leasehold property with onerous ground rent terms, now is a good time to review your lease and speak to a solicitor about what reform might mean for your sale prospects. Don’t wait for the bill to pass, though. Preparation takes time, and a clean lease will mean a faster sale.
What is Commonhold?
Commonhold is a form of flat ownership where you own your unit outright and share ownership of the building with your neighbours, rather than holding a lease from a landlord. It eliminates ground rent and gives residents collective control of their building.
Although Commonhold has existed in England and Wales since 2002, it was poorly designed and conceived, so very few developments ever took it up – in fact, there are fewer than 20 commonhold developments across the country.
The bill outlined in the King’s Speech is an attempt to finally make it workable and, over time, make it the default way to own a flat – rather than leasehold.
The wider economic picture, and why it matters for property in Herne Hill
The bills in question will impact Herne Hill if they come to pass. We urgently require more social housing in the wider borough for a start, and we see the effect day in, day out in terms of the pressure rental demand puts on the sector locally. But also, here in SE24 we have a high proportion of leasehold properties – in fact, over 53% of housing here is flats and apartments, and most are leasehold.
Beyond the housing-specific bills, however, there’s a broader economic story in this speech that any serious property investor or seller should understand.
The government is explicitly framing everything through the lens of “economic security.” This is deliberate language, deftly chosen to signal stability: controlled spending, investment in infrastructure, measures to bring down the cost of living, etc.
All of that, if it works, is positive for property. Falling inflation and stable interest rates are perhaps the two biggest things that will move the market in the next two years. We were heading in that direction in the early weeks of the year – but international events conspired to change that narrative. It would be welcome to see it return.
A government committed to economic stability (whatever one thinks of its specific policies) is signalling to the mortgage markets that it intends to keep the environment predictable.
The speech also named major infrastructure investment: airport expansion, the Lower Thames Crossing, and Northern Powerhouse Rail. These are significant for property values in the surrounding areas – and of course that means here in the capital.
What if there’s a leadership contest?
Back to the question of whether a leadership contest and potentially a new Prime Minister within the next few weeks changes the picture:
At the time of writing, there is no shortage of speculation about exactly that. As mentioned, Wes Streeting – seen as a potential frontrunner in this scenario – has resigned his post as Health Minister, even as I was typing out this article. Things move that quickly that by the time you are reading these words, this possible leadership battle might already be well and truly underway!
Nevertheless, in terms of the content of the King’s Speech, what goes on in that regard is not entirely irrelevant, but largely won’t impact it.
The King’s Speech is not personal to the Prime Minister. It belongs to the government, which means it belongs to the party in power. A change in leader – which in this case would mean a change in Prime Minister – would not automatically tear up the legislative programme.
Will leasehold reform still happen if Labour gets a new leader?
The bills named in this speech will, in the overwhelming majority of cases, continue to progress through Parliament regardless of who is sitting in Downing Street.
Why? Because a new leader inherits the parliamentary mandate. The government still has its MPs, its majority, and its manifesto commitments. Scrapping major pieces of legislation – particularly those that had genuine popular appeal, like leasehold reform, and which contributed to the party winning power in the first place – would be politically costly.
In most cases, successor governments tend to push through what’s already in the pipework, even if they add their own stamp.
There have been exceptions – Liz Truss’s brief tenure saw some policies reversed almost immediately after she was replaced. But that was a different scenario. Those were policies that had caused an economic crisis.
Leasehold reform and social housing investment are not in that category.
They are, if anything, safer under a leadership change than a Budget measure would be.
The practical takeaway
Current political uncertainty needn’t be a reason to delay your property decisions. In this case, the wider, moderate view is that the King’s Speech represents a genuine parliamentary commitment to reform the housing sector for the better.
A leadership battle, and perhaps a change of Prime Minister if one happens, could slow things down. But these particular ambitions are unlikely to be stopped – not without a general election being called, and that is not the mood music.
Therefore, our advice is to plan around this proposed legislation as if it will happen – because, broadly speaking, perhaps after the usual parliamentary debate and amendments, it will.
As ever, we’re here to talk through what any of this means specifically for your property or your plans. Please send us a note, give us a call, or just drop in – the door is always open.