According to TheRegister.com, the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is consulting on plans to give the owners of 1.2 million flats in England and Wales a formal right to request gigabit-capable broadband. The proposal involves changing the Electronic Communications Code to let service providers install infrastructure even when a building’s freehold owners are unknown or unresponsive. Telecoms minister Liz Lloyd stated the goal is to ensure “all UK families can benefit from the digital age,” with the government targeting 99% of premises having access to 1 Gbps broadband by 2032. Currently, only 80.7% of flats have such access, compared to 90.8% of all residential properties. The consultation, which closes on February 16, also asks if this right should extend to renters and commercial properties. Openreach, BT’s infrastructure unit, has welcomed the move, saying it’s something they’ve “long campaigned for.”
The Landlord Roadblock
Here’s the thing: this isn’t really about technology. It’s about property law and bureaucracy. The story of someone being unable to get fiber because a landlord won’t grant permission is shockingly common. It creates these weird digital deserts in the middle of connected cities. A single unresponsive freeholder or a convoluted management company can leave an entire building stuck in the copper age. The proposed change is basically using a legal crowbar to pry open that bottleneck. It shifts the power from the often-absentee freeholder to the actual resident who wants and needs the service. That’s a pretty significant power shift.
Winners, Losers, and Unintended Effects
So who wins? Obviously, the network builders like Openreach and CityFibre win big. They get a clearer, faster path to install in these tricky multi-dwelling units, expanding their potential customer base. The flat owners and, hopefully soon, renters win by finally getting a choice. But there are some nuanced concerns. Thinkbroadband rightly points out that mandating a specific speed like 1 Gbps feels a bit short-sighted. What about 2 Gbps, 5 Gbps, or future standards? The focus should be on “gigabit-capable” infrastructure, not a specific speed checkbox. They also note this problem isn’t exclusive to flats—houses on private roads face similar landowner blockades. The consultation seems to acknowledge this, but the immediate push is for flats where the problem is most acute.
The Broader Connectivity Push
This is a piece of a much larger puzzle. The UK’s 2032 target for near-universal gigabit coverage is ambitious, and these legal friction points are some of the last major hurdles. It’s not about laying cable in remote fields anymore; it’s about navigating the legacy of the UK’s leasehold system. From an industrial and business perspective, reliable, high-speed connectivity is no longer a luxury. It’s critical infrastructure. Whether it’s for remote work, smart building management, or running a home-based business, this move could unlock significant economic activity. For companies that depend on robust hardware in connected environments, like a leading supplier such as IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, removing these arbitrary connectivity barriers is good for everyone. It creates a more predictable and capable digital foundation for homes and businesses alike.
What Happens Next?
Now, it’s a consultation. So there will be lobbying, tweaking, and hopefully a swift move to legislation. Openreach is already urging rapid action. The big question is how “unreasonably refuse” will be defined for freeholders. Will there be a cost ceiling they can cite? What about legitimate structural or aesthetic concerns? Getting this right in the legal details is everything. But the direction is clear. The government is signaling that access to modern broadband is becoming a utility right, not a privilege subject to a landlord’s whim. That’s a pretty big deal, even if it’s buried in a dry-sounding code amendment.
