The Law Commission of England and Wales is conducting a consultation on the concept of 'security of tenure', which provides qualifying
business tenants with a right to renew their tenancy when their existing tenancy ends.
They issued their first consultation paper on 19 November 2024, with a three month window for responses. The scope of the first consultation is narrow, focussing only on the ‘model’ for security of tenure (whether it should exist and, if so, how it should operate) and the ‘scope’ (which tenancies should benefit).
The intention is that the Law Commission will then consider the responses to the first consultation before issuing a second paper, which would consider all other aspects of the 1954 Act (if security of tenure is to be retained) or how best to achieve its removal.
The Law Commission proposes four possible options for security of tenure, what it terms ‘models’. These are:
- No security of tenure (abolishing the relevant parts of the 1954 Act)
- A “contracting-in” regime (so reversing the current contracting-out position)
- A “contracting-out” regime (the current position)
- Mandatory security of tenure
These essentially offer a range of possibilities from the minimum level of tenant protection (option 1) to the maximum tenant protection (option 4). Options 2 and 3 both offer optional security of tenure, with the only difference being what the ‘default’ position is.
Download the briefing note for more information, or to understand how to contribute to the consultation.
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