Law Commission publishes interim statement on reforming business tenancies
The Law Commission has published an interim statement on reforming business tenancies under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954). The statement follows its first consultation, running from 19 November 2024 to 19 February 2025. The Commission has provisionally decided that the current ‘contracting-out’ model is appropriate, as it provides a favourable balance between landlords and tenants and avoids undue market disruption. It confirms that certain tenancy types, such as agricultural tenancies, remain excluded, and proposes increasing the six-month minimum duration for security of tenure, with some support pending further consultation for extending this threshold to two years. These provisional conclusions will form the basis of the Commission’s second consultation paper, which will address the technical details of reforming the Act, including potential adjustments to the contracting-out procedure, with final recommendations to be published in a subsequent report.