The position is that the Government approved my proposals for a Landlord and Tenant Law Reform Bill in September 2011 and it is currently being drafted in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. The General Scheme of the Bill is available on my Department's website: www.justice.ie.
The objective of the Bill is to update and modernise the general law relating to landlord and tenant by repealing numerous pre-1922 statutes, including the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act Ireland 1860 (commonly known as "Deasy's Act"), as well as statutory provisions of more recent origin and replacing them with a streamlined statutory framework more suited to modern conditions. For example, it will contain provisions which clarify the respective obligations of both landlords and tenants and improve protection levels for tenants. However, since much of the law relating to residential tenancies, including renewal of such tenancies and redress mechanisms, has already been updated in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and later amendments to it, the principal impact of the reforms in the new Bill will be felt in the area of commercial tenancies.
I am confident that the reforms set out in the new Bill will reduce legal uncertainty arising from uncertain and obsolete statutes and thereby reduce costly disputes and recourse to litigation.
Unfortunately, due to the complex nature of the proposed legislation, I am not in a position to state when the Bill will be published. However, it is my intention to proceed quickly with enactment of the Bill following publication.
