The government of Antigua and Barbuda, led by the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Office of the Attorney General, is advancing two landmark legislative reform efforts focused on strengthening public protections and resolving longstanding gaps in existing legal frameworks. The flagship of these initiatives is the upcoming Landlord and Tenant (Residential Tenancies) Bill 2026, drafted to replace decades-old rental regulations that no longer align with the realities of the nation’s modern residential housing market. For years, the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Price and Consumer Affairs Division have received a steady stream of overlapping grievances from both property owners and renters, ranging from unregulated, abrupt rent hikes and arbitrary late payment penalties to unpaid rent arrears, unresolved disputes over outstanding utility bills for electricity and water, and widespread ambiguity over the core rights and obligations of each party under rental agreements. Currently, all residential tenancy disputes are adjudicated under the Small Tenements Act and the Rent Restriction Act, two pieces of legacy legislation widely recognized as outdated, inflexible, and ill-equipped to resolve the complex, evolving conflicts that now define Antigua and Barbuda’s fast-growing rental sector. To ensure the new legislation is inclusive, balanced, and responsive to on-the-ground needs, the Ministry has scheduled a formal public consultation for Thursday, November 12, 2026, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the national Parliament Building. All community members, including private landlords, long-term tenants, housing advocates, consumer protection representatives, and other relevant stakeholders, are invited to attend to share personal experiences, submit targeted feedback, and propose concrete amendments that will directly shape the final text of the bill. Government officials have emphasized that broad, meaningful public input is a non-negotiable priority to avoid drafting rules that unfairly favor one side of the rental relationship over the other. In parallel to the tenancy reform, the Ministry of Legal Affairs will kick off deliberations on the Older Persons (Care and Protection) Bill 2026 in the following week, a separate legislative package designed to address unmet social gaps facing elderly residents, reinforce formal safeguards for their physical safety, financial security, and access to care services, and improve overall quality of life for the nation’s aging population. Both bills are framed as core components of the administration’s ongoing broader legal reform agenda, which aims to replace obsolete, unfit-for-purpose statutes with a responsive, 21st-century legal system that delivers clear, accessible protections for all segments of the Antiguan and Barbudan public.
Government to Host Public Consultation on Landlord and Tenant Relations Bill 2026
