What areas of law does the Law Commission consider may benefit from reform, and could therefore be part of its 12th programme of law reform?
In landlord and tenant, they include:
– Concerns about the scope of Authorised Guarantee Agreements under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, following the Court of Appeal’s decision in K/S Victoria Street v House of Fraser [2011] EWCA Civ 904, in which the court confirmed that a “direct guarantee” was not permitted under the Act.
– Residual problems with the rule that a lease must have a certain term, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Berrisford v Mexfield Housing Co-operative [2011] UKSC 52.
– Amendment to the security of tenure provisions in Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 in order to make the procedures more straightforward.
In land registration, nearly ten years after the Land Registration Act 2002 came into force, the Law Commission feels that some issues are ripe for reconsideration, including:
– The effect of the guarantee of title that the register provides, and the impact upon that guarantee of the growth of fraud in recent years. A number of cases have demonstrated that the effect of the Act’s provisions is not clear, and that clarification is required.
– The need to revise the provisions relating to electronic conveyancing in the light of technological advances in recent years and of our understanding of how electronic conveyancing has progressed in other jurisdictions.
See The Law Commission’s consultation on its 12th programme of law reform.