Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands: Power and Resistance in Landlord-Tenant
Relationships Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
20 March 2025 (Thursday), 2:00-3:00 PM
Room 723, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
This presentation offers a snapshot into the impact of shifts in market power on commercial landlord-tenant relationships under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. For over seventy years, the 1954 Act has regulated business tenancies in England and Wales, based on the assumption that, left unchecked, landlords will exploit their tenants’ vulnerability at the end of a lease term. Enacted in a post-war context, the legislation was designed to protect tenants in a retail market that is now vastly different from today’s landscape. While small business tenants continue to occupy high streets, the rise of large multinational corporations and private equity-backed occupiers has significantly transformed the commercial leasing environment. Drawing on Blandy, Bright and Nield’s ‘Dynamics of Enduring Property Relationships’, I argue that it is only by incorporating an analysis of shifting power dynamics into this framework can one can fully understand the broader implications for landlord-tenant relationships. Through 55 semi-structured interviews with property professionals, I challenge original assumptions about landlord power in the current retail market. The data reveal that, rather than the legislation itself, power dynamics are the primary determinant of whether landlord-tenant relationships endure, and leases are renewed. Furthermore, the findings suggest a growing disparity between the commercial terms available to large corporate tenants and those offered to small business tenants, whose economic contributions are often tied to local communities. While the 1954 Act was originally intended to protect small vulnerable tenants, the research indicates that it has, in practice, inadvertently empowered corporate tenants at the expense of small tenants, exacerbating inequalities in lease negotiations.
Speaker: Dr Emily Carroll, Head of Quality and Accreditation, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
Emily’s research explores the law as it applies to land, adopting a holistic approach which views the interaction of land with a range of private and private and public law principles including land law, equity, the regulation of commercial leases, environmental law, company law and human rights. Her methodology combines traditional doctrinal analysis with theoretical and socio-legal approaches. Emily’s current research focuses on the regulation of business tenancies. She has a particular interest in the legal and policy implications of security of tenure particularly how professional advisers mobilise the statutory framework in practice.
Emily began her career as a commercial property solicitor in international law firms before joining the University of Birmingham as a full-time academic in 2014. As an award-winning educator and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Emily is committed to approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire students to learn. Emily established the Network of Land and Property Teachers (NETLAP) in 2018.
Chair: Professor Kelvin Low, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Registration is required for this in-person event. Please register ONLINE to reserve your place.
Enquiries: Flora Leung at aiiflhku@hku.hk