Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

CHAPTER 18SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONSThe provisional recommendations contained in this <strong>Paper</strong> may besummarised as follows:Chapter 1 The Relationship of Landlord and Tenant18.01 The Commission concludes that the preliminary practicalconsequences of section 3 of Deasy’s Act, for example the removal ofthe need to retain a reversion or the facilitation of the granting oftenancies of minor rights, have been beneficial and so should beretained as part of the law in Ireland. [Paragraph 1.12]18.02 The Commission recommends that a lease or tenancyshould continue to be regarded as creating an estate or interest in theland in the tenant. [Paragraph 1.16]18.03 The Commission recommends that any re-enactment orreplacement of section 3 of Deasy’s Act should be a provision ofuniversal application and should say so explicitly. [Paragraph 1.17]18.04 The Commission recommends that Irish law should retainthe notion that all tenancies confer an estate or interest in the tenantand that legislation should make it clear that the absence of this willprevent the relationship of landlord and tenant from arising.[Paragraph 1.18]18.05 According to the case law the concept of exclusivepossession is treated as a negative criterion only in that its absence ina particular case will rule out a tenancy, but its presence will notnecessarily result in a ruling in favour of a tenancy. Its presence willsimply be regarded as one factor, but not necessarily the determiningone, pointing to a tenancy. The Commission has concluded that thisis a sensible view for the courts to adopt and recommends thereforethat any statutory guidelines should include the requirement ofexclusive possession. [Paragraph 1.20]18.06 The Commission recommends that it should be made clearby statute that the universal rule is that a tenancy does not exist unless191