The Law Commission’s review of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 was announced in Spring 2023, with a consultation paper – setting out the existing law, the problems with it, and possible solutions - anticipated by December of that year. That was later delayed until early 2024, and has now been pushed to Autumn 2024.
Despite the delayed consultation paper, the Law Commission has nonetheless been busy over the last year carrying out pre-consultation discussions with practitioners and industry bodies.
This delay is perhaps a sign of the scale of the Law Commission’s task – the 1954 Act has not been updated for over 20 years, and the scope and appetite for wide-ranging reform is yet to be seen.
In our previous update, we flagged the many and various issues the Law Commission may consider, ranging from existential issues around the continuing relevance of security of tenure and the role of the courts in determining disputes, to addressing issues within the current regime, such as contracting out and calculating compensation.
The Law Commission may well be grappling with the dilemma between working within the current framework to streamline it and iron out the current issues, or, more radically, going back to the drawing board and formulating a new approach.
Next steps
It remains to be seen whether this delay indicates a dramatic change to the law on security of tenure will be proposed – we’ll now have to wait until the Autumn to find out.
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