The Rent Review Specialist
How to do a rent review - 02
30/08/2017
At rent review, the starting point obviously is to read the lease. I say ‘obviously’ because … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
How to do a rent review - 01
03/07/2017
In 1978, I published a pamphlet “The Framework of Rent Review Clauses” which was given free publicity in leading law and property journals. In 1983, I published … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
The Great British Housing Disaster
28/06/2017
The above link to a 1984 documentary is worth viewing* for the insight it offers into short-term thinking. (*Approximately 50 minutes) For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Tin God
28/06/2017
At commercial property rent review, the dispute resolution procedure is either to an arbitrator or independent expert. Sometimes the lease provides for… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Commercial Property Costs
01/06/2017
For anyone coming or escaping from the residential buy-to-let market, the thought of investing in commercial property with full repairing and insuring leases, long-term leases, and upward-only rent review, must surely seem like … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter - click here
Rent review: words versus numbers
26/04/2017
An informed rent review surveyor and an experienced lawyer working as a team on the drafting and approval of the lease documentation is arguably the only way that the client’s interest can reasonably be described as … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter - click here
Mercy of the Market
29/03/2017
Any form of investment whose profit-potential depends upon finding someone somewhere to buy it off you, preferably for more than you paid, is risky. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter - click here
Thinking inside the box
23/02/2017
Anyone can invest in commercial property: all you need is the cash or enough cash to get a mortgage. Anyone can invest isn’t the same as becoming an investor. To become an investor, one needs to… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter - click here
Exit Strategy
25/01/2017
An alternative investment, property is an alternative to cash and other liquid forms of investment. Arguably, commercial property is more of an alternative … For further reading please visit LandlordZone
Affordability - the big issue
17/11/2016
When a business tenant says they cannot afford more rent, often it’s not a genuine claim. Or not for the right reason. For further reading please visit LandlordZone
Rent-free period
01/11/2016
The idea of the full repairing (including decorating) lease is that when the tenant yields up the premises on expiry of the contractual term or sooner termination,…For further reading please visit LandlordZone
Long-dated Reversions
26/10/2016
A reversion is when the full (market) value of the property reverts to the interest of the superior landlord. An example of a long-dated reversion is …For further reading please visit LandlordZone
The Market v the Evidence
28/09/2016
To consider the property market as a whole or an umbrella term for its sectors and segments depends on the thinking and the nature of the property. Thinking about…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Assessing Covenant Strength
09/09/2016
Assuming a commercial property is let already, the proposition an income-producing investment, the investor would be buying the building/property, not the tenant’s business. Since the…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Interesting Commercial Property
31/08/2016
Now that the Bank of England Base Rate is at 0.25%, any prospect in the foreseeable future of a rise in interest rates for savers is remote. It therefore pays to look at other interest-producing investments…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Misreading the signs
28/07/2016
Despite the future being naturally uncertain, we live in an age, fearful of change, when wanting or needing to know in advance what will happen has become a social norm. To know what will happen is… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Uncertainty and Growth
30/06/2016
On the subject of Brexit – don’t say I didn’t warn you – http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/industry-expert-guest-writer/michael-lever/brexit-aftermath - we are now being told that businesses including but limited to property investors do not like uncertainty. That’s a myth, surely? For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Brexit aftermath
16/06/2016
I hesitated whether to contribute my tuppence-worth to this momentous occasion. Of the three taboo subjects – religion, sex, politics – that one is not supposed to talk about in polite society…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
The Ultimate Break Clause
09/06/2016
Let’s imagine you’ve bought a prime shop property let to a blue-chip multiple retailer on an institutional lease for term 20 years, with 5 yearly upward-only rent reviews to market rent and tenant break clause at year 15. The initial yield …For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Investment in Investment
26/05/2016
Commercial property, as with all types of property, is an illiquid asset whose highest value depends on the availability of a ready supply of credit. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
ITZA revisited
18/05/2016
I am revisiting ITZA in the light of an experience I am enduring concerning some tenants that are inexperienced of rent review. Tenant contention is that an ITZA adopted/agreed for a previous review should be used again for a current review. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Dispute Resolution Procedure at Rent Review - Calderbank offer
29/04/2016
Basically, what is known as a Calderbank offer is a ‘without prejudice;’ offer to settle a dispute to avoid the extra costs and associated risks of a full referral. From… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
No room for Doubt
29/04/2016
The stability of the commercial property market, indeed the property market as a whole, depends upon finance, the management of large amounts of money. Actually, it is not so much the stability that would not survive without regular injections, but the For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Talking up the Regions
29/03/2016
Of the nine regions in England, London region, the capital city, is dominant; next is South East that covers a much larger area but whose population exceeds London by only about 500,000; the other seven are what those in London and the South-East would regard, sometimes in derisory tone, as the provinces. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Dispute Resolution Procedure at Rent Review
26/02/2016
At rent review, the phrase 'going to arbitration' is often bandied about during negotiations as a means for one party to get its own way. Whether or not the parties can agree the rent without involving the dispute resolution procedure, it is common for a represented or experienced party to invoke as a negotiating ploy. For whatever reason, it is important to understand what you are letting yourself in before taking the step or allowing the procedure to run its course. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone: click here
Susceptible to groupthink
25/02/2016
Commercial property has a reputation as a long-term hedge against inflation; a reputation that most investors take for granted. But not all property performs and increasingly more isn’t. A reflection partly of … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone, click here.
Lease non-renewal: Schedule of Dilapidations
29/01/2016
I have headed this article 'Lease non-renewal: Schedule of Dilapidations' because the law of repair is complicated, The parties’s rights during the currency of a lease, on expiry, and on non-renewal, differ… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Truth will out
27/01/2016
Over the years, the growth in popularity of the property market reflects its consistency as a store of value. The value of an asset is only worth what a buyer is willing and able to pay for it. An asset doesn’t necessarily appreciate… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Gambling on the future
15/01/2016
Whenever I count from numbers 1 to 10. I find it easier to count up, rather than down. If you don’t know already, try this for yourself: count from 1 to 10: do you find it easier to…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Critical Thinking
14/01/2016
Ever since property started being thought of as a business, rather than a game – although why when one is not a full-time investor property should be thought of as a business is beyond me – the need for critical thinking has become more of a pre-requisite than ever before. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Investing in Commercial Property - (2) for Growth
23/12/2015
Commercial property is a depreciating asset whose rate of depreciation can be slowed or offset by appreciation over a period of time. For a property to go up in value between one date and another, one or more things would have to happen. The first question when buying for growth is why should your choice… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Thinking inside the box
15/12/2015
2015 hasn’t been kind to retailers. True, a few have done very well and are continuing to do so, but most have not. Most, including major supermarkets, are… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
More money than sense?
26/11/2015
In the private investor sector, the commercial property market is experiencing a disconnection between pricing and the underlying investment value of the property based on property fundamentals.
A difference has… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
A difference has… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
A different perspective
17/11/2015
Amongst my spare-time (if only!) interests is photography. I became interested in photography as a quick way to write poetry. I wrote reams of poems during my teens, my writing style a combination. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Stands to Reason
28/10/2015
The more you pay for a commercial property investment, the less you are likely to make out it at least in the short term, and quite possibly long-term too. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Retail Property Investment Valuation
02/10/2015
Valuation is an opinion, Not merely anyone’s opinion, but an informed opinion; an opinion based on a knowledge of the subject.
The starting point… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
The starting point… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Investing in Commercial Property - (1) for Income
18/09/2015
There are probably only three reasons for investing in commercial property, of which one does not apply to most landlords. The exception is…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Commercial Property - an Unregulated Market
27/08/2015
The relationship between the UK property market and the London Stock Exchange is close, both markets heavily depending upon money-supply liquidity and credit provided by the banks and money-markets. Considering their respective importance as stores of assets and regarded as barometers of the economy, it is interesting that whereas the Stock Market is regulated, the property market is … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Liquidity
19/08/2015
Whether better to invest in quoted property companies on the Stock Market or property direct is a matter for debate: each has advantages and disadvantages and… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Base Rate and LTV
07/08/2015
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn there are investors whose borrowing is so close to the edge that a nominal increase in Base Rate (and LIBOR) would tip them over the cliff, but … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Business Rates 2 - Spare a thought?
31/07/2015
Following on from my article about Business Rates in the LandlordZone Newsletter, business rates are a tax on non-domestic property, but spare a thought for the recipients… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Business Rates
30/07/2015
The oldest of the UK’s taxes, with the possible exception of stamp duty, the origins of rating can be traced to before… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Tax and Property
13/07/2015
Some years ago, an overseas investor enquiring about my services suggested that most surveyors do not understand tax and property. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Negotiating Rent Review with your Tenant
07/07/2015
It is not compulsory to instruct a surveyor to deal with the rent review and many landlords prefer to have a go at negotiating rent reviews direct with their tenants, particularly local traders and small businesses. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Poso kani - πόσο κάνει - (how much?)
06/07/2015
The people running a country are sitting-targets for the sort of people who, themselves not in charge of anything of very much importance, are fond of criticising, that is until… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
The Smart Money
01/07/2015
The smart money is getting out of property. The smart money has long regarded property to be treated like any other commodity, to be bought and sold whenever the time is right. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Privacy - a big issue
05/06/2015
Privacy is a big issue. Data-mining, technically the extraction of information from a dataset to transform it into an understandable structure for further use, or in buzzword parlance the extraction of patterns and knowledge from large amount of data, not the …
Traffic Congestion
02/06/2015
This story may be anecdotal, but at the beginning of the 20th century a leading motor vehicle manufacturer predicted that there would never be more than 1 million cars in the world, because… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Stoop to Conquer
28/05/2015
Despite evidence that many shrewder landlords are selling up while the going is good, the booming market in retail property investments is showing no overt signs of abating. Money to invest is one thing, but money to provide a return on capital is another so it is time to wonder how those tenants that are just about keeping their heads above water are going to manage when their own rents come up for review. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Due Diligence
30/04/2015
Due diligence is an investigation of a business or person prior to signing a contract. Verifying to make sure that everything you’ve been told is correct and above board. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Yield and Return
30/04/2015
A concern for investors in commercial property is how well the investment is performing or how it is expected to perform. Knowing how to gauge performance is essential which is why it’s important to understand the difference between yield and return. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Friday afternoon ramble
10/04/2015
If you’re into creating a balanced portfolio then a bit of residential property and commercial property is necessary, but what happens if you’re not? And even if you are, what happens if you later discover that you’re not cut out for residential or commercial, or vice versa? For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Commercial Property Crash
07/04/2015
Predicting the next commercial property market crash is not something to do for the fun of it, but to enable forward-thinking investors to bide their time in readiness for the next buying opportunity. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Comparable Evidence
13/03/2015
Amongst the ways to agree or ascertain the (open) market rent at rent review or on renewal of a lease, (per s.34-s35 Landlord and Tenant Act 1954), is the use of comparable evidence. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Self-service at auction
05/03/2015
Every year, millions of pounds of retail, commercial and industrial property investments changes hands, far too often to buyers whose expectations never materialise after completion. …For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Bubble and squeak
27/02/2015
Let’s face it, if you took my advice then you’d never buy anything! Which is what a client used to tell me before mentioning he’d bought another shop property and wanted…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Boot on the other foot
26/02/2015
Whether residential or commercial property, there is a considerable amount of money to be made by playing your cards right. It’s not only investors that can play the property game, so too can banks. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Tenant Break Clause
08/02/2015
It is fair to say that landlords dislike tenant-break clauses for their own sake, but are generally accommodating. The tenant’s right to break gives the tenant … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
New Year Resolution
29/01/2015
For the uninitiated, commercial property is a steep learning curve. For the inexperienced landlord, commercial property is like a minefield, full of pitfalls for the unwary. Whereas residential property is a political hot potato, commercial property is … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Investment Strategy
15/01/2015
It is said that if you want to travel from where you are now to where you want to go then you need a map… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Commercial Property Insurance - Part 2
23/12/2014
Whether lawyer or surveyor, we professional advisers to landlords and tenants have a dual-role in the field of business tenancies: to help clients to abide by and comply with the law, and where the client has not sought our advice beforehand to find legitimate ways to wriggle out of liabilities and responsibilities. For further reading please visit LandlordZone.
Commercial Property Insurance - Part 1
10/12/2014
Amongst the thorny issues in the relationship between landlord and tenant is the building insurance premium. For further reading please visit LandlordZone.
Expectation for Commercial Property Growth
27/11/2014
Unlike residential property, the factors that determine prospects for commercial property growth are much more dependent upon specific tenant demand, rather than demand and supply generally. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 30 - click here
Commercial Property and Free Advice
05/11/2014
The recent ruling on why landlords cannot rely upon general advice from HMRC is a timely reminder of the perils of free advice generally. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone, click here.
Appraising High Streets
24/10/2014
My work takes me travelling all over England and Wales so, apart from work for regular clients, I never know in advance where each new instruction might be. Long-distance travelling is not as demanding when… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone - click here
Commercial Propery Pension Plan
23/10/2014
The object of a pension is to provide an income during retirement. A pension is an accumulation of money that has been saved over the years. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 29 - click here
Rent Review Increase
09/10/2014
On grant of leases, there are two types of landlord. The landlord for whom the property has always been an investment, and the landlord that previously occupied the property for his own business but is selling up and simultaneously granting a new lease of the property to the buyer. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
(Please note: this article is an abbreviated version of "Open Market Rent Review".)
(Please note: this article is an abbreviated version of "Open Market Rent Review".)
Supermarkets at War
29/09/2014
The Tesco bookkeeping announcement on 22 September 2014 is a useful reminder of what can happen when a retailer becomes so big that the cost of keeping up appearances might lead to all manner of shenanigans. For further reading, please visit newsletter 28 on LandlordZone
Is most commercial property ex-growth?
25/09/2014
Successful investment in commercial property is all about art and timing. The art, which might be described as judicious choice, is the skill needed to discern whether the particular property is likely to continually head in the same direction as the market. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Guarantor or Rent deposit
01/09/2014
The ideal for any landlord is for the tenant to have a guarantor and provide a rent deposit. But which is better when the landlord has to choose? For further reading, please visit LandorrdZone
Everyone's an Expert in Property
28/08/2014
Amongst the subjects in which everyone thinks themselves an expert are politics, sport, psychology, marketing, and property. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 27 - click here
Summertime Blues
11/08/2014
Seen through London eyes, much of the property throughout the rest of Britain is relatively inexpensive, cheap even. Anthropocentric perhaps but, to an extent, London has every right to think itself the most significant. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Auction and Guide Prices
01/08/2014
In July 2014, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint brought against Auction House Ltd (“AH”) whereby the complainant argued that several properties sold at auction by AH had had reserve prices higher than the guide prices and so could not have been bought at the guide price. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
“Where are the customers’ yachts?”
31/07/2014
For most people, a state pension is quite possibly the opposite of what they’ve experienced throughout most if not the whole of their working life, presupposing an employee and not running their own business. A pension is other people paying you. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone.
Froth and Reassurance
15/07/2014
Now that the property market has steamed ahead for quite some time, in many cases prices up to pre-2008 crash levels, the pundits are now telling us that everything in the garden is rosy and we shouldn’t be concerned. Talk of good value for money and why prices should continue to rise, any flaws in their reasoning explained away, is, at least in my opinion, rather worrying. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
s25 and s26 notices - The landlord's perspective
03/07/2014
… you can find out about section 25 and section 26 notices respectively in more general terms, but here I talk about some of the ways the 1954 Act notices and procedures may be used tactically by landlords… For further reading please visit LandlordZone
Are banks a safe bet?
26/06/2014
Not that long ago, one of the best ways to invest in a bank was through stocks and shares. As well as a slice of the action, you became a part-owner of… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
What's in a word?
16/06/2014
As I say on my website, ”anyone can read a lease, but knowing what to look for is what really counts”. Words have meanings, but words attract positive and negative connotations so… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
How to Appraise a Shop Investment
02/06/2014
The short answer to how to appraise a shop investment is that everything about the proposition is reflected in the level of Zone A rent. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
A Refreshing Change
29/05/2014
Becoming, being a landlord will change you. In the driving seat, no longer a passenger, will shift you into a different state of mind. Investment does that to people: the feeling that others are paying you is …For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 24 - click here
"Upward only" rent review
12/05/2014
Contrary to popular belief, ‘upward-only’ rent review does not mean the rent must increase. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone
Safety in Numbers
02/05/2014
Physically outwardly people are different and different nationalities each have their own cultures but, other than gender, human beings are basically inwardly the same. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone - click here
Sentiment v Technicalities
23/04/2014
With commercial property rent review and lease renewal when practical help from a surveyor is sought, as distinct from seeking advice, there are two types of client: …For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 23 - click here
Location, location, location
12/04/2014
Investment performance despite any resistance by the tenant. Why would the tenant resist? …For further reading, please visit LandlordZone - click here
April Fool or Successful Investor
01/04/2014
Successful investment is about judicious choice and timing: what to buy, how much to pay, how to manage, when and how to sell…for further reading, please visit LandlordZone - click here
Investment Psychology
27/03/2014
Psychology occupies the middle-ground between who you are and who you want to become, and all that that entails. To become something you have to invest. Investment is about becoming better off than you are now. How long it takes to become better off depends upon a combination of two factors: the practical and the psychological. … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 22 - click here
Chasing Rainbows
20/02/2014
Unlike investing in stocks and shares where the volatility of share prices and uncertainty of dividends can lead to long term buy and lose, investment in property offers two advantages: … For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 21 - click here
Asset Strippers
21/11/2013
Investment in shop property is very rewarding provided you know what you are doing. Many private investors, particularly novices, do not understand how to go about it. Instead of formulating and sticking to a clearly defined strategy, most investors have a scatter–gun approach, alighting upon anything that takes the fancy within their price range. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 18 - click here
Without Prejudice
24/10/2013
Last year someone on LandlordZONE Forum’s commercial property board was asking about breach of warranty of authority, and suggesting the landlord’s surveyor might be pulling a fast one. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 17 - click here
Changing Market and Varying a Lease
26/09/2013
The definition of ‘lease‘ is "the grant of a right to the exclusive possession of land for a determinate term less than that which the grantor has himself in the land". In practice, a lease is …for further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 16 - click here
Inexperience and business tenancies
29/08/2013
Tackling a business tenancy matter is full of pitfalls for the unwary… For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 15 - click here
On-site Parking
31/07/2013
For corporate image there is something to be said for the appeal of former residential dwellings when located in main-road positions. One attraction is the likelihood of off-street parking where the front garden provides a forecourt for on-site car parking. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 14 - click here
Mixed User Buildings and Service Charges
25/06/2013
When a building comprises ground floor commercial premises let on a business tenancy, and upper part residential flat sold on a long lease, there are two ways for the landlord to recover the costs and expenses incurred by the landlord… for further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 13 - click here
Shop Investment
29/05/2013
I have resisted commenting on the Portas review of the ‘High Street’ and ensuing media and industry reports, because …for further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 12 - click here
SIPP and Commercial Property
26/03/2013
Growing numbers of retirement savers with self–invested pension plans (SIPP) are building up their pension pots by putting money into commercial property; it is suggested buying your own premises to form part of your pension is probably a good move. But is it really? For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 10 - click here
Danger in leaving drafting to lawyers
21/02/2013
When a lease is granted, the onus is on the landlord to draft the wording and the tenant to approve. When the lease contains a rent review, with the rent to be reviewed to the market rent, as distinct from a formula such as index–linked, the lease will incorporate a ’second’ lease known as the “hypothetical lease”. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 9 - click here
Letting a Tenant off the Hook
23/01/2013
With a business tenancy, agreeing the documentation is rarely straightforward at the best of times…For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 8 - click here
Rent Review in the Prevailing Climate
22/11/2012
Investment is about becoming financially better off. Investing in commercial property can be rewarding provided you know what you’re doing, otherwise risky. For further reading, please visit LandlordZone newsletter issue 6 - click here