Key takeaways
Heat network zoning is gathering momentum
Regulations – and possibly construction – expected by the end of the year.
Contractual controls register coming soon
New register scheduled to open in April 2027, with some retrospective effect.
Commercial lease legislation under scrutiny
Two major Law Commission consultations run until mid-September.
In the latest edition of his quarterly column for Estates Gazette, Bill Chandler previews some of the most significant legal developments affecting real estate expected in the coming weeks and months.
Summer 2026 has certainly proved to be eventful. Sweltering heatwaves on these shores are fast becoming the new normal, while the old normal was represented by England’s latest illustrious defeat at the World Cup. It is an exceptionally busy time in legal terms too, with a never-ending stream of significant legal developments affecting the real estate sector.
The heat is on
Heat network zoning is about to become big news.
In January 2026, the government published its response to its December 2023 consultation. However, with plentiful headline-grabbing distractions elsewhere (including the Renters’ Rights Act, the contractual controls register and the ban on upwards-only rent reviews), the ambitious proposals to roll out heat network zones across England have flown under the radar for many people.
Heat networks are nothing new, of course. Heat is transferred directly from energy sources to buildings through a network of insulated pipes, dispensing with the need for individual buildings to have their own boilers or heaters. But despite there being over 10,000 registered heat networks, less than 5% of heat in the UK is currently provided by such networks. The government considers that this percentage needs to increase to nearly 20% by 2050 if net zero targets are to be achieved.
The Energy Act 2023 established the framework for heat network zoning in England. Areas will be identified where heat networks are expected to be the lowest cost, low carbon heating option. A new heat network zoning authority will be established, which will initially sit within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) until the Warm Homes Agency is established. The central authority will be supported by zone coordination bodies at local level. Regulatory oversight will be provided by Ofgem.
DESNZ has been working with 28 pilot areas, comprising most of the major towns and cities in England. Six of those have been nominated to become the first heat network zones: Bristol, Leeds, London (two zones), Plymouth, Sheffield and Stockport.
Once the heat network is constructed, new buildings within the heat network zone can be required to connect to the heat network. Existing communally heated buildings may also be required to connect, as well as existing non-domestic buildings with ‘wet’ heating systems and an average heat demand exceeding 100 MWh.
The consultation response envisages that the regulations introducing heat network zoning will be made this year. The announcement of the first six heat network zones similarly anticipates that construction will commence this year. So, we should expect to see rapid progress over the coming months, subject of course to any delays or change of course resulting from the change of incumbent in 10 Downing Street.
Once fully implemented, heat network zoning will fundamentally change the way that buildings in urban areas are designed, built and used.
I can see clearly now
The desire for increased transparency over who owns and controls land is a recurring theme. The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 were made on 8 June 2026, confirming that a new register of contractual controls over land will open for business on 6 April 2027.
Key details of development-related option agreements, conditional contracts, pre-emption rights and land promotion agreements will need to be provided to the Land Registry. Notification will be required within 60 days of the grant, assignment, variation, determination, expiry or exercise of a contractual control right. Exceptions include rights that are incidental to a mortgage or overage agreement, and rights where the total period of control is less than 18 months. The online registration portal is still at the development and testing stage. Over the coming months, we will get to see how the final version looks, works and how it integrates with third party providers.
Importantly, the Regulations cannot simply be ignored until the register goes live. Any qualifying contractual control rights granted between 8 June 2026 (the date the Regulations were made) and 6 April 2027 (the date the register opens) must be registered before 6 October 2027. This creates a challenge for developers and their advisers, who will need to maintain registers of agreements that will need to be registered retrospectively once the register launches next year.
This time (we’ll get it right)
There are many aspects of commercial landlord and tenant law that merit reform, and the Law Commission have certainly got the bit between their teeth. On 16 June they published two consultation papers, recommending changes to three of the most important pieces of legislation in this area.
One paper initiates the second phase of the consultation on business tenancies under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Having concluded after the first phase that the current model, whereby all business tenancies have security of tenure and renewal rights unless contracted out, should be retained, the latest paper considers how to improve the current model.
Running to more than 500 pages, most aspects of the current regime are up for grabs. Will we see periodic tenancies stripped of statutory protection, turnover rents in renewal leases, a new emphasis on environmental matters and the end of the current over-engineered and risk-laden procedure for contracting out?
The other consultation paper proposes removing the current fear that granting a lease of a commercial unit in a mixed-use building requires ‘section 5’ notices to be served on qualifying residential tenants under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. It also seeks to remove the barriers to corporate and partnership restructurings highlighted by the ‘AGA saga’ series of cases under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995.
The consultations, and your chance to input into a once-in-a-generation overhaul of landlord and tenant law, close on 16 September 2026. It will then be fascinating to see whether government can be persuaded to devote legislative time to these reforms.
And don’t forget that we still await the Law Commission’s response to its recent consultation on chancel repair liability.
Coming soon
Other things to look out for in the second half of the year include:
Competition law – the Competition and Markets Authority’s provisional decision (published in August) that Aldi and Lidl should be designated as Large Grocery Retailers under the Controlled Land Order is subject to a consultation that runs until 7 September 2026.
Building Safety Levy – this new levy on residential developers, to pay for the remediation of building safety defects, is scheduled to start on 1 October 2026.
Renters’ Rights Act - Phase 2 is scheduled to begin in late 2026 and will see the establishment of a PRS database and landlord ombudsman.
Residential conveyancing – we should expect further progress with the government’s plans to reform home buying and selling, in accordance with the recently-published ‘reform roadmap’, together with progress on the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Beyond the horizon
Looking further ahead:
Trusts declared by attorneys – the Supreme Court hearing in National Iranian Oil Company v Crescent Gas Corporation Limited and another [2025] EWCA Civ 1211; [2026] EGLR 6, where the Court of Appeal held that an agent or attorney cannot declare a trust of land, is now scheduled for late January 2027.
Upwards-only rent reviews – the legislation to ban upwards-only rent reviews in new commercial leases received Royal Assent on 29 April, becoming the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. We can expect to hear more in the coming months about when the ban will take effect (currently expected in 2027/28), along with the promised consultation concerning caps and collars.
Community Right to Buy – the same legislation will also rewrite the existing assets of community value regime in England, replacing the Community Right to Bid with a Community Right to Buy. Again, we await confirmation of when this will be implemented.
Energy efficiency – changes to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regime are expected in the second half of 2027. Looking even further ahead, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for privately rented homes is due to increase to EPC ‘C’ on 1 October 2030, while the government has recently confirmed that the minimum standard for large commercial buildings will increase to EPC ‘B’ in 2031 (with no interim jump to EPC ‘C’).
An earlier version of this article appeared in Estates Gazette.
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