RE:UK response to the Law Commission’s consultation on the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

Overview

We have responded to the Law Commission’s second consultation on reform of Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. We strongly support simplifying the contracting-out process and improving lease renewal and dispute resolution, while ensuring the Act better supports investment in buildings and the decarbonisation of the built environment.

Our key asks

We recommend that the Law Commission:

• Simplifies the contracting-out process, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens and uncertainty for property owners and occupiers.
• Improves the lease renewal and dispute resolution process, including greater use of specialist tribunals and alternative dispute resolution, alongside a clearer route to the High Court for appropriate cases.
• Makes it easier to incorporate appropriate green lease provisions at renewal, including provisions relating to energy data sharing and EPC protection, so leases can respond to evolving environmental and regulatory requirements.
• Reforms Ground F to better enable retrofit, refurbishment and other sustainable forms of development, using a broader test based on whether substantial works genuinely require possession rather than the particular physical form of those works.