Affordable Rent Tenancies – Changes to the Localism Bill

Tuesday, 02 August 2011 00:00

As you will see from our previous bulletin on Affordable tenancies here, following the revised Tenant Services Authority Tenancy Standard, there was some debate over whether a Periodic Assured Shorthold tenancy could be used instead.

Part of the argument against using fixed term tenancies was the fact that if they were for a period of five years or more then they would have to be by way of deed under the Law of Property Act 1925. Also, if the term of the tenancy was over seven years then, under the Land Registration Act 2002, the tenancy would need to be registered with the Land Registry.

The Localism Bill has recently gone to the Committee stage of the House of Lords on its passage through Parliament before it is enacted. Changes to the Law of Property Act 1925 and Land Registration Act 2002 are some of the amendments that were put forward and accepted to the Bill.

The first amendment is to remove flexible tenancies and assured tenancies (save for shared ownership leases and tenancies over 21 years) from the provision in the Law of Property Act 1925 which means they have to be created by deed.

The second amendment is that flexible tenancies and assured tenancies (save for shared ownership leases and tenancies over 21 years) will not need to be registered with the Land Registry under the Land Registration Act 2002. This Act has also been amended so that the same tenancies cannot be registered by the occupants voluntarily. These amendments remove the need to register tenancies over seven years and to enter into a deed for tenancies over five years. However, the move to using fixed-term tenancies does still involve other implications which will need to be considered and suitable advice obtained.

The next stage of the Localism Bill is the report stage where the whole bill is debated again. Following this is the final and the third reading in the House of Lords and, on both these occasions, further amendments could be made, so the Localism Act has not quite taken shape in full yet.

However, the amendments discussed above are useful practical steps which will assist the Affordable rent regime and, for this reason and the fact that there was no opposition to the amendments in the House of Lords on this reading, it is unlikely that these amendments will be reversed.

If you have any queries please contact Sarah Schooling or Joe Warren on

01392 207020, or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it