The Law Reform Commission has published a proposed Landlord and Tenant Bill as part of its latest report, which deals with landlord and tenant law.
The proposed Bill contains a number of measures aimed at removing legislative provisions that militate against commercial practice and the operation of free market choice. It also seeks to ensure that agreements would not have unintended and unforeseen consequences.
It outlines the formalities for the creation of the relationship between landlord and tenant; the position of successors in title to the original landlord and tenant;general obligations between the two along with the specific obligations of both landlord and tenant; remedies for the enforcement of obligations and the termination of the relationship.
Enactment of these measures would involve the repeal of numerous pre-1922 statutes relating to landlord and tenant law. The proposed Bill also seeks to consolidate existing legislation, notably the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Acts of 1984, 1989 and 1994.
The report, which follows a consultation paper on the subject, deals mainly with general principles of landlord and tenant law and commercial tenancies.
It does not deal with residential tenancies, which were dealt with in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, nor specifically with agricultural tenancies, which are now rare.
Today, it says, the renting of agricultural land would be covered by business tenancies.
The proposed Bill does not deal with the question of ground rents legislation, which, according to the commission, deserves a separate study.
It points out that the High Court has recently dealt with a constitutional challenge to the existing legislative provisions in this area, which is being appealed to the Supreme Court.