Law Commission consultation on business tenancies: modernising security of tenure

We provisionally propose allowing landlords to serve notices under section 25 of the 1954 Act on tenants who are out of occupation. Do consultees agree?

Please explain why.

We invite the views of consultees as to whether every protected tenant should be able to serve a section 26 notice, or whether periodic tenants and other tenants of short fixed-term tenancies should remain unable to do so.

We provisionally propose introducing a cap on the period of notice which can be given under section 27(2) of the 1954 Act. This could either be a 6-month cap (in which case no interim rent would be payable) or a 12-month cap (in which case interim rent would need to be payable from 6 months after service of a section 27(2) notice). We invite consultees’ views on the following questions.

1. Do consultees agree with our provisional proposal that a cap should be introduced on the period of notice which can be given to end a tenancy under section 27(2) of the Act?
2. If so, should the cap be 6 months or 12 months?
3. If consultees do not favour either a 6-month cap or a 12-month cap, what is a better solution?