LTA 1954 is in dire need of statutory intervention says Malcolm Dowden
The Law Commission's trawls for redundant law occasionally result in Statute Law Repeal Acts, the most recent of which received royal assent in July 2008. However, caution prevails and that process is reserved for clearing away long defunct or quaintly anomalous statutes (such as the death penalty for impersonating a chelsea pensioner).
The process is far from agile, and statute enacted to meet one set of social or economic circumstances can rapidly become a poor fit. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) is one such example. LTA 1954 served a useful purpose in the years following World War II. By 1969 the original scheme was creaking, and a mechanism for contracting-out was needed. Recent reforms tweaked the procedure, but could not bring LTA 1954 into line with current market needs and conditions. Arguably, the time has come to reform the LTA 1954 so that it requires “contracting in” rather than “contracting out”, leaving the majority of landlords and tenants to work with contracts
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