12 Days of Christmas 2025 – Day 12

As we wrap up our 12 Days of Christmas feature, we take the opportunity to look forward to some of the more interesting legal developments that we expect to happen in 2026. The buzz word for next year definitely seems to be “reform”, and proposed legislative changes occupy a lot of our look ahead for this year. We do have some interesting cases for you to keep an eye on, however, as well as a Christmas riddle to finish off our festive feature.

 

Renters Rights

Some of you may be wondering how we managed to get so far into our 12 Days feature without mentioning the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Passed in October 2025, it signals a significant shake-up of the living sector in England. Once the main reforms come into force on 1 May 2026, residential ASTs will no longer exist, and no-fault evictions will be abolished. A long list of additional changes will also be brought in which will fundamentally change the way residential lettings operate. We have been keeping a close eye on the passage of the Act through Parliament and on Government’s stated plans for its implementation. If you would like more information on the reforms, you can read our briefing published in October here.

 

A trio of Law Commission reforms

The world of property law features heavily in the Law Commission’s 14th Programme of Reform which was launched in Autumn 2025. The Commission’s proposed reform of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 aims to address several perceived shortcomings in the current legislation. The Act governs the assignment of leases and the release of original tenants from their obligations. The proposed changes seek to simplify the process by which tenants are released from liability, clarify the operation of AGAs and ensure fairer outcomes for both landlords and tenants. Specific focus is to be directed at intra group assignments with the aim of removing barriers for businesses which currently prevent “commercially sound transactions” from proceeding. The reforms are intended to modernise the law, reduce uncertainty and promote transparency.

The second area of proposed reform is the rights of first refusal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, the aim being to simplify and modernise a process widely regarded as overly complex and confusing, especially for mixed-use buildings. Currently, landlords must offer tenants the opportunity to purchase a property before selling to a third party, with strict notice requirements and criminal penalties for non-compliance. The reforms seek to create a more user-friendly and flexible scheme, reducing bureaucracy and legal pitfalls, which given the sanction level can be significant. Practitioners are hoping for clarity over the definition of disposals which are caught as currently the definition is widely drawn and open to interpretation. It is hoped there will be reform which supports property transactions while maintaining essential protections for tenants.

Lastly, we hoped that 2025 would be a year where reform of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 would pick up the pace. June 2025 saw the Commission issuing an interim statement following its first consultation. The indication that the degree of reform would be minimal was not altogether surprising given that in the first consultation paper it highlighted it would look for significant evidence to justify departing from the existing contracting-out model before recommending doing so. The next step is publication in Spring 2026 of a second consultation paper focussing “on the technical detail of how the 1954 Act might be reformed”. We expect the paper to include potential changes to the contracting out procedure, dispute resolution, grounds of opposition to renewal, terms of renewal leases and issues caused by the registration gap.

 

Upward-Only Rent Review Ban

Covered in our Day 6 article, the Government’s surprise proposals for the ban on upward-only rent review provisions in commercial leases is definitely one to watch for 2026. The proposals are contained at the back of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which is currently travelling through Parliament at pace since its introduction in July this year. The Bill is due to go into the Committee Stage of the House of Lords on 20 January 2026. If the proposals stay as currently drafted, they will have a significant impact on commercial landlords and tenants in England and Wales.

 

Adriatic Land and Triathlon Homes – the final reckoning

In Day 5 of our feature we covered the high-profile Court of Appeal decisions in these two cases, relating primarily to the retrospective effect of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) and its impact on the ability of parties to recover costs incurred prior to the BSA coming into force. Unsatisfied with the decisions of the Court of Appeal, the landlord in the Adriatic Land case and the developer in the Triathlon Homes case have been granted permission by the Supreme Court to appeal the decisions. The questions before the Supreme Court next year will be (1) does paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 to the BSA prevent a landlord recovering legal or professional costs by way of service charge where those costs were incurred before the BSA came into effect?; and (2) can the FTT make remediation contribution orders under s124 of the BSA in respect of costs incurred before that provision came into force on 28 June 2022.

 

Trocadero – the sequel

Also up for appeal next year is the High Court decision in London Trocadero v Picturehouse Cinemas. Covered in our blog on Day 2 of our feature and in greater depth earlier in the year (here), this case dealt with the recoverability of landlord’s insurance commission through the insurance rent provisions in a lease. The High Court found that the commission was not recoverable based on its interpretation of the relevant lease terms and ordered that the tenant be repaid a significant sum of money. The landlord has been granted permission to appeal the decision in the Court of Appeal and so we can expect further judicial consideration of the issues in this case next year.

Let’s conclude with a festive riddle:

I predate Santa Claus by just a tad. You might say I’m the ultimate holiday dad. Who am I?

Father Christmas