Commercial Property Law and Practice Annual Review

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Over the past year, much attention has been focused on significant changes whose principal impact is in the residential sphere, such as the Renters (Reform) Bill, and the impact of the Building Safety Act in relation to tall residential buildings. But at the same time the commercial property world continues to undergo changes – some evolutionary, others closer to revolutionary.

One which falls into the second class is the proposal in the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill for rental auctions of vacant high street properties. This is such a novel idea that many still believe it will not pass into law. However, it has the support of the Labour party, and is the subject of consultation on the detailed regulations.

Some of the measures enacted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic survive into the post-pandemic world, notably debt relief measures in relation to pandemic-related rent debt, and more general relief measures such as mental health moratoria and Part 26A restructuring. The courts have been getting to grips with the details.

With a full-scale review of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 in the offing, caselaw continues to illuminate its workings, and perhaps to highlight areas where reform is very much needed. The landlord and tenant field more generally, as always, has generated much new caselaw, on matters ranging from service charges to unreasonable refusal of consent to assignment, forfeiture and break options. Some of the disputes arise out of repurposing of property, and there may be many more such disputes to come. 

As if that were not enough, the Supreme Court, in the Tate Gallery ‘overlooking’ case, has given important new guidance on the law of nuisance, with potential implications for the development of tall buildings.