The Rent Review Specialist
For Solicitors
In 1978, I published a pamphlet, "The Framework of Rent Review Clauses”, which was given publicity in leading law and property journals. In 1983, I published a 28-page booklet,’ How to do a Rent Review’; priced at £5, it was an instant hit at more than 2000 sales; and, in a letter to me, was described by Professor John Ratcliffe, then Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the Polytechnic of the South Bank, London (now the University of the South Bank, London) as an "excellent digest of a particularly complex area of professional practice and study". In 1984, I published a booklet, reprinted in 1988, entitled “Investment in Secondary Shops” and in 1988 “, How to Read an Auction Catalogue”: more than 1500 booklets were sold, and many landlords have used my services regularly ever since. In 1988 I published a booklet, "The Psychology of Rent Review Negotiation”, and after that, numerous pamphlets and newsletters; over the years, my contribution to the world of rent review is such that many of my original ideas nowadays pervade popular thinking.
A business tenancy is a commercial contract, so the parties are deemed to know what they are doing. Generally, the onus is on the landlord to draft the documentation and for the tenant to approve. Although early leases were not unsophisticated, the trend has been the widespread use of precedents and a general tightening of the “small print” to minimise management expenses with more control for the landlord over the relationship between landlord and tenant.
There is no standard form of business tenancy in everyday use. Although the Law Society short form of lease is popular, particularly amongst smaller landlords, and many firms of solicitors have their standard documents, the wording and phrasing are frequently applied by others, whose interpretation might differ from what was intended by the drafter. Furthermore, since the reversion may have been sold since the tenancy was granted, the tenant may have also assigned associated deeds, licences, and side letters that might have been entered into; ascertaining the intention of the original parties may be impossible. Adding to the differences is that the market is continually changing, so it is not uncommon for a different interpretation to vary depending on the date.
There are two aspects to consider with a business tenancy: (1) the terms and conditions for routine management matters arising between landlord and tenant, and (2) the terms and conditions for the occasional variations between landlord and tenant. By ‘variation’, I do not mean variation to actual terms and conditions but in the amounts payable under the tenancy. Amounts payable include rent, insurance premium, service charge, contribution to repairing and decorating obligations, and rent review.
Variations in the amount payable comprise facts and opinions. Factual is ascertaining whether the amount demanded is correct. For example, the share of the building insurance premium, service charge, structural repair and decoration.
Opinion variations are another matter entirely. At rent review where the review is to market rent (not a set formula such as inflation index-linked or a percentage) or on expiry and renewal of the tenancy, the rent to be payable from the review or on renewal can be fixed by others, and that can lead to considerable discord in the landlord and tenant relationship.
As well as being taken literally, positive and negative connotations can attach to words and phrases. For example, for a rent review, how you read a document depends on whether you advise the landlord or the tenant.
I provide solicitors professional support in drafting rent review clauses and documents to ensure the valuation intention at rent review.
To contact me, please email help@michaellever.co.uk or telephone 01531 631892
I look forward to helping you in some way.
Michael Lever
A business tenancy is a commercial contract, so the parties are deemed to know what they are doing. Generally, the onus is on the landlord to draft the documentation and for the tenant to approve. Although early leases were not unsophisticated, the trend has been the widespread use of precedents and a general tightening of the “small print” to minimise management expenses with more control for the landlord over the relationship between landlord and tenant.
There is no standard form of business tenancy in everyday use. Although the Law Society short form of lease is popular, particularly amongst smaller landlords, and many firms of solicitors have their standard documents, the wording and phrasing are frequently applied by others, whose interpretation might differ from what was intended by the drafter. Furthermore, since the reversion may have been sold since the tenancy was granted, the tenant may have also assigned associated deeds, licences, and side letters that might have been entered into; ascertaining the intention of the original parties may be impossible. Adding to the differences is that the market is continually changing, so it is not uncommon for a different interpretation to vary depending on the date.
There are two aspects to consider with a business tenancy: (1) the terms and conditions for routine management matters arising between landlord and tenant, and (2) the terms and conditions for the occasional variations between landlord and tenant. By ‘variation’, I do not mean variation to actual terms and conditions but in the amounts payable under the tenancy. Amounts payable include rent, insurance premium, service charge, contribution to repairing and decorating obligations, and rent review.
Variations in the amount payable comprise facts and opinions. Factual is ascertaining whether the amount demanded is correct. For example, the share of the building insurance premium, service charge, structural repair and decoration.
Opinion variations are another matter entirely. At rent review where the review is to market rent (not a set formula such as inflation index-linked or a percentage) or on expiry and renewal of the tenancy, the rent to be payable from the review or on renewal can be fixed by others, and that can lead to considerable discord in the landlord and tenant relationship.
As well as being taken literally, positive and negative connotations can attach to words and phrases. For example, for a rent review, how you read a document depends on whether you advise the landlord or the tenant.
I provide solicitors professional support in drafting rent review clauses and documents to ensure the valuation intention at rent review.
To contact me, please email help@michaellever.co.uk or telephone 01531 631892
I look forward to helping you in some way.
Michael Lever
Rent review is not only about words