Michael Lever

(1984 Sep) – Many people know that I am a regular contributor to the correspondence columns, so circulating a commentary of this nature to Clients must look like an ego trip to a captive audience – it has crossed my mind that you may not read it! The objective is to keep in touch with […]

(1984 Sep) In an increasingly complex economy, research is rapidly intruding upon the traditional province of the valuer: gut feeling. The mixing bowl, into which statistics, ‘informed’ opInIons, records of past transactions and trends are all technically blended, creates a science out of prediction. An objective appraisal from a source with influential but vested interests […]

(1984 Sep) – News is coming through that the banks are tightening up on their lending to Asian buyers for grocery businesses. Asians tend to treat their  business interests as family  concerns,  injecting  sizeable capital funds from consortium or family sources, with bank loans over 5-10 years, in exchange for an income level which would seem derisory to […]

(1984 Dec) – It cannot come as much surprise to learn that Motorist Discount Centre, with some 300 shops selling motor accessories, has gone into receivership. With the notable exception of Kwik-Save, the northern-based supermarket group, nominal capital commitment to shop fitting is often a sign of a short-term trading philosophy.  The acquisition of Cullens, […]

(1984 Dec) – The historic development of shopping centres makes fascinating reading. Originally, as people went to market, so came permanent shops. In the post-war housing boom, shops started going to the people and even today, new council housing estates boast a block of shops. The radical change in socio-economic patterns, and the real decline […]

(1984 Dec) – Now that solicitors (and accountants) are allowed to advertise, it is interesting to observe how a professional group responds to the challenge. Advertising in the property market is so much a part of the furniture that it is difficult to remember that corporate advertising is still relatively novel. To market an intangible […]

(1985 Jun) The current trend for private investors in the retail market to be more concerned with short term gain than long term income is worrying. Participants seem to have overlooked the fact that the essence in capital gain to date owes more to previous levels of inflation than to design. And even if high […]

(1985 Jun) Thinking I was immune from advertising, my first trip to what has now become my local grocers was to satisfy professional curiosity but standing in the car park at Tesco’s 100th superstore, I was comfortably aware of some magnetic presence which has brightened up Neasden. For those of us who thrive on fresh […]

(1985 Jun) In a period of ‘retailing revolution,’ one wonders how advisers to pension funds can be so confident that the rate of growth essential to justify low initial yields on purchase price will materialise at the review date. Many funds are already becoming increasingly disillusioned with their agents’ failure to achieve the anticipated rental […]

(1999 Jun) Socially, “win-win” as a means of avoiding or diffusing argument is useful as a catalyst but, at rent review, I regard it as inappropriate, because the intention is pre-determined as the open market rent: ie, what other retailers would pay for the premises. Whilst landlords would like all tenants to conform to the […]

(2009 Mar) Acting for a trustee of a restaurant property in East London, I was instructed to advise and take over negotiations for a rent review where the landlord’s previous surveyor had failed to serve a valid notice and the tenant’s surveyor had questioned the effective date of the review. The trustee’s solicitors had sought […]

My letter published in Estates Gazette, March 2009:“Whilst I agree with Anthony Ratcliffe there seems precious little difference between “phoenix” company and “pre-packs”, I do think landlords could do both themselves and the shop property sector a service by adopting a more robust approach to requests for assignment. Generally, alienation criteria in a lease enable a landlord […]

(2009 Jun) As I say time and again, essentially, a problem is a fault in direction which, when left to its own devices, may fragment into seemingly different problems, so as to attract attention. It is not enough to resolve a problem: it must be transformed. Finding a solution simply dilutes the problem, until it […]

(2009 Jun) Now the credit-crunch has settled, landlords have a rare, possibly unique, opportunity to determine the future of retailing, for good. As I see it, a lot of hard-working decent honourable tenants, good at what they do, have found their property costs inflated as a result of the legacy of a bunch of irresponsible […]

(2009 Sep) “Distressed” seller is the latest way for sellers to get rid of rubbish. The sort of properties that nobody else would buy. Start off by putting on the market over-priced. Expect to sell for much less. Attract interest, consider offers much lower than the quoting price. Do some due diligence as to whether the buyer […]

(2009 Sep) It seems to me there are a growing number of people thinking to themselves now seems like a good time to invest in shop property. But I’m not convinced. Not because life’s difficult for many retailers, and that for many struggling on in the hope of surviving is possibly about the best they […]

(2011 Mar) I have become so fed up with chartered surveyors paying ‘lip service’ to the RICS Practise Statement and guidance Notes for chartered surveyors acting as expert witness at rent review but ignoring the substantive provisions that I am going to make formal complaints to the President of the RICS. In one case recently, […]

(2011 Jun) Per Scullion v Bank of Scotland plc (t/a Colleys) [2011] the Court of Appeal has overturned the High Court decision that for buy-to-let residential property the valuer was liable to the purchaser. The CA held that although the valuer had been negligent and the purchaser had relied upon the valuer’s report (amongst other […]

(2011 Jun) English Heritage has created a searchable database of all nationally designated heritage assets including Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Parks and Gardens, Registered Battlefields and Protected Wreck Sites. http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/

(2012 Jun) “In 1995, a working party was set up by the Investment Property Forum (IPF) to consider existing procedures for the acquisition and disposal of real estate and to recommend improvements that would speed up the sale and purchase disposal process. The consultation led to the publication of ‘Readiness for Sale’ in 1996. 16 years […]

(2012 Sep) All this carnage on the High St must be causing problems for internet companies – where are people going to go in the future to look at stuff before they buy it?

(2013 Jan) With a business tenancy, agreeing the documentation is rarely straightforward at the best of times so, unless the lease contains a tenant–break, a landlord won’t normally expect the tenant to want to quit before expiry of the contractual term. When a tenant asks to be let off the hook, whether to agree or […]

(2013 Feb) – It is an established rule of English law that a person can only enforce a contract if he (or she) is a party to it, or a lawful assignee of the benefit of the contract. For a business tenancy, the “privity of contract” doctrine means the first (original) tenant can assign his […]

(2013 Jun) 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 in connection with repair and decoration of the common parts of the building, […]

(2013 Dec) The starting point for operation of a rent review is some form of notice.* The form and phrasing of the notice, the timing of the notice, the mode of service, the identity of the recipient, the address for service, and so on, are all critical factors. Where a lease requires the tenant to […]

(2013 Dec) The purpose of rent review is threefold: Reviewing the rent payable is all very well for landlords but for tenants ensuring it is no more or less than it should be is not how most tenants would view a rent review. For many tenants, the only way the business can remain profitable is […]

(2013-12) For purpose of agreeing or determining a rent, there are five key dates: 1) the review date;2) the valuation date;3) the earliest date for implementing the dispute resolution procedure4) the date when the revised rent is payable; and5) the date when any back rent is payable. The review date is either specifically stated or […]

(2013-12) For some reason, best known to the world of lawyer-draftsmen, the phrasing in leases is often unbelievably convoluted. Commonly, review dates are not specified, such as 25 December 2006, 25 December 2011, but referred to as intervals such as 5th and 10th anniversaries, which is all very well provided it is clear from the […]

(2013 Dec) Where a tenant is a company and the landlord requires a director as guarantor or a rent deposit, that person is exposed to both the risk of rent and all other terms and conditions of the tenancy, should the company default. But an advantage to the tenant in opting for a guarantor is […]

(2013 Dec) The Government has announced that the five-yearly revaluation of all commercial properties in England will be postponed from 2015 to 2017.  Every 5 years, commencing April 1990, Rateable Values are revalued, based on rental values at the antecedent valuation date, 2 years previously. For example, 2010 Rateable Values (which came into force 1 […]

(2013 Dec) On expiry of a business tenancy that qualifies for renewal rights per the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II, (“LTA54”), and where the landlord is not opposing grant of a new tenancy, it is common, when the tenant wants to renew, even if negotiations are not underway, for the tenant to request […]

(2013 Dec) Notwithstanding Reed Personnel Services plc v American Express Ltd [1996] wherein the court said it is “not good for the tenant to say what is good for the landlord” many tenants are fond of negotiating as if they were the landlord. Although technically cutting no ice, it’s an approach that can succeed when […]

(2013 Dec) Amongst the many aspects of my work I love is lease analysis. Possibly it’s the same reason many people enter the legal profession, but for me the prospect of being able to pour over every word and phrase and get bogged down in detail is stimulating. Perhaps because investment is mostly about finance […]

(2014 Jan) A “demise” or “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. A lease is therefore a species of conveyance, and it is provided by s (2)05(1)(ii) of the Law of Property Act 1925 […]

(2014 Jan) – In business tenancy law, the actual tenant’s ability to afford the rent at review is generally considered irrelevant. So, the actual tenant faces a dilemma, because – unless the review goes to ‘arbitration’ – the tenant must decide what rent to agree and no tenant will willingly agree more than they can […]

(2014 Jan) – The rate of growth is a combination of rental and capital growth. Although capital growth is often rental-dependent, a higher price may be obtainable from an owner-occupier rather than an investor or developer. Also, because a difference can exist between the value of a property and a proposition, investment sentiment can affect […]

(2014 Jan) – Investment is about becoming better off, financially, and whatever you invest in is known as an ‘asset’. (Whether an asset goes up (appreciates) or down (depreciates) in value doesn’t make it less of an asset. Whether it can turn into a liability is a separate issue! Investments are categorised as liquid or […]

(2014 Jan) – Even if they start by using cash, many purchasers are concerned with the cost of financing property. In my experience, they can often be more concerned with finance than the value of the proposition. This situation typically arises when property is offered at a high yield, compared with interest rates, but not […]

(2014 Jan) Contrary to popular belief, there is, assuming the review to market rent, no right or wrong way to negotiate a rent review. The tenant may like to assert that the landlord should produce evidence to justify a proposed increase and if none were forthcoming then the rent should not go up, but that […]

(2014 Jan) – The open market is made up of different ‘afford-abilities’, so, in linking the review to “open market rent” (OMR) ‘open’ means everyone and anyone (A). As indicative or comparable evidence, a new letting to an inexperienced first-time tenant at a rent that might amaze is as valid as any hard-driven bargain by […]

(2014 Jan) – A pension is a long-term commitment and tax relief is attractive, but setting-up fees and on-going charges for pension plans can be disproportionately high. I suggest thinking inside the box. The question to ask is: would the proposition be worth buying if there were no tax advantages? Many property investment schemes and […]

(2014 Jan) – It has long been recognised that too literal an approach is to be avoided in the interpretation of contracts. The reason for that was explained thus by Lord Reid in Schuler AG v Wickman Machine Tool Sales Ltd [1974] AC 235: “No doubt some words used by lawyers do have a rigid […]

(2014 Jan) – The purpose of a rent review (and where the basis is market rent) is to enable the landlord to obtain the market rent for the premises at the review date (or valuation date if different) and for the tenant to ensure it is not paying any more or less. The open market […]

(2014 Jan) – Multiple retailers, particularly, with premises that are surplus to requirements frequently sub-let rather than assign the leases. Why? There are many reasons. For example: 1) the risk of assignment is that in the event of assignee default, the lease could revert to the assignor at any time. [Although leases containing Authorised Guarantee […]

(2014 Mar) – Years ago, an institutional landlord, a well-known insurance company, whom I found myself acting against on numerous occasions, used to include £500 pa margin in its proposals for rent review which struck me as ambitious but in most cases nevertheless insurmountable. Thinking I’d like try the same approach, I experimented by recommending […]

(2014 Mar) – In my opinion, and I’m not alone, the fees required and charged by surveyors appointed by the RICS to act as arbitrators or independent experts are often out of touch with reality and, in many instances, obscene. For example, I am dealing with two matters at present, for different clients, where the […]

(2014 Mar) – I want to dispel a widely held notion, the strong belief in which leads to investors overpaying for shop property. It is a notion that has contributed to substantial over-valuation (along with over-mortgaging by the banks and other lenders) of shop property investments for more than three decades. When you buy a […]

(2014 May) – Contrary to popular belief, ‘upward-only’ rent review does not mean the rent must increase. An ‘upward-only’ review means that the rent payable after the review to open market rental is agreed or ascertained would not be less than the rent payable before the rent review, even if the open market rent were […]

(2014 Sep: Landlordzone) (to be edited) 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? The starting point is the status of the tenant. With a tenant that is one person (an individual) the likelihood of […]

(2014 Oct) A feature of investing in commercial property is the rent review. With residential BTL, rents can be increased but usually only at the end of the term if the existing tenant would pay more or on a new letting if the market is up to it or, as with ground rents, to pre-set […]

(2015 Jan) Whether landlord or tenant, it might be of interest to check whether the rent you are receiving or paying has kept pace with inflation, as measured by the Retail Price Index.I have designed a calculator that calculates the percentage change in the RPI and the adjusted rent. It;’s a two stage calculation. You […]

(2015 Feb) 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. The ruling, per Mark Robert Alexander (As Representative of Property 118 Action Group) v West Bromwich Mortgage Co Ltd […]

(2015 Jun) – 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 …

On 1 October 2015, the RICS Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) is increasing its fee for applying to appoint an arbitrator or Independent expert to £395.00 (inclusive of VAT).

On 1 March 2017, the RICS Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) is increasing its fee for applying to appoint an arbitrator or Independent expert to £425.00 (inclusive of VAT).

(2018 Jul) The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force on 25 May 2018. Law-abiding businesses and organisations are checking whether computerised and manual records data/information and mailing lists are compliant, asking people to confirm opt-in. An opportunity for businesses to prune mailing lists, it is also an opportunity for anyone on a mailing list […]

(2020 Apr) – At rent review and lease renewal, the impact of the respiratory disease COVID-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, highlights two factors that are particularly important in negotiation and rental valuation: (1) post-review evidence and (2) post-review event. From case-law, the principles are reasonably straightforward to understand, even if not always appreciated! (1) Post-review […]

(2022 Nov) – I enjoy using my diverse talents to help others succeed. To contribute to professional wisdom and market intelligence, since September 2022, I have been a guest editor for Property Law UK, a long-established high-quality publication and online resource for UK Property Law whose other guest editors include barristers and solicitors. For more […]

(2023 Mar) – Acting for Yellowdice Limited, the Tenant of a nightclub in London SE11, I have helped achieve its objective for the rent payable for the protected rent debt period defined by The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022. This Act has a short life so far as the dispute procedure is concerned. Application for […]

(2023 Sep) Acting for Mark & Sons Ltd, the Freeholder-Landlord of a public house in London SW19, I have helped achieve its objective for the rent payable for the protected rent debt period defined by The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022. This Act has a short life for the dispute procedure. Application for arbitration had […]

(2023 Nov) – Every so often, a rent review is referred to an arbitrator or independent expert, depending upon the dispute resolution procedure in the lease. And, every so often, depending upon whether I am acting for the landlord or the tenant, the dispute resolution procedure requires me to comply with a timetable for submissions […]

(2025 May) – From Sir John Ritblat’s remark that property investment is 50%, property, 50% finance. I decided that rent review is 50% valuation, 50% case law. As ‘the’ specialist (not ‘a’ specialist as an arbitrator in the North of England said in a reasoned award and whose putting me in my place still irks!), […]

(2025 May) – Revenge is sweet. I have a natural talent for relationship marketing. Relationship is about help: help is instinctive. Helping yourself, helping others. We form, develop, and maintain relationships to help in some way, and at some level of understanding. Help is unconditional, but in business it is conditional, help usually in exchange […]

(2025 May) – How a limited company tenant can be rid of rent and lease liabilities. Where a tenant is a limited company, it does not (normally*) need the landlord’s consent to assign the tenancy. The only necessity is to sell the shares in the company. Where the company has assets its director(s) want(s) to […]

(2025 May) – Any surveyor whose landlord clients own properties let to banks will know that the surveyors that act for banks at rent review reason that the market rent should be valued using zoning methodology as if a shop. The reason being that is the only way the banks’ surveyors can minimize their clients’ […]

(2025. May) – Interesting article by Collyer Bristow LLP – Rebecca Mitchell and Camilla Brown on the history of this Act, what it has achieved and suggestions for reform.

(2025 May) – A director (according to Practical Law) is “a person elected by the members of a company or otherwise appointed to superintend the management of the company’s affairs. Although company directors are not strictly speaking trustees, they are in a closely analogous position because of the fiduciary duties they typically owe to the […]

(2025 May: LinkedIn) – (1) Please correct me if this is wrong, but I think that a person with a professional qualification, MRICS or FRICS, should be able to read. The landlord’s surveyor (FRICS) had referred to the RICS for the appointment of an arbitrator. The appointed asked the landlord’s surveyor for a copy of […]

(2025 May) – Acting for the Landlord of a shop in London Road, Norbury, London SW16, let to a well-known corporate estate agent, the rent review was referred to an Independent Expert. Inevitably, the Tenant’s surveyor sought nil increase. I say ‘inevitably’ because multiple retailers and ilk tend to cite evidence involving other multiples and […]

(2025 May) – On referral of a rent review to an Independent Expert appointed by the RICS, I have had enough of (some) appointed chartered surveyors over-stepping their authority. An Independent Expert derives authority from the lease. Not the RICS. The RICS appoints the IE, that is all. After that, it is for the parties […]

(2025 May) – The Law Commission having allowed me to contribute two days after the official end of the first Consultation, I ran out of time to address the LC’s questions, so said the following (edited): …whenever instructed to act for a landlord or a tenant, I start by saying “it should be easy to […]

(2025 May) – Under the Arbitration Act 2025, s70(3) the time limit for appeal pushes the date of the award to the back burner by also including “the applicable date” which is the date when the applicant or appellant was notified of the result of that process. Under the 1996 Act, the arbitrator can be […]

(2025 May) – Currently, I’m acting as expert witness for a head lessee of a block of shops in a village near St Albans. It’s an unusual rent review involving a dispute with the freeholder about the amount of ground rent. Despite a previous review involving different parties, there is no documentation on how the […]

(2025 May) – 1.0 Supermarket REIT plc buys supermarkets let on index-linked rents. Its debt interest rates enable it to pay dividends on the difference between rental income and operating costs (including borrowing). But how long for? 1.1 Supermarket REIT is not the only prop co that buys index-linked rented property. Almost all, if not […]

(2025 May) if you search on-line for the meaning of the “principles of good estate mangement”, then chances are you’ll find some saying it’s been lost in the mists of time. At least I did – before I delved. The origin of the phrase is, along with the principles of good husbandry, to be found […]

(2025 May) – At rent review, it’s usual for the surveyor who acts for one of the parties to tell the surveyor acting for the other party that what had been agreed previously should be agreed again – even if the latter is a different person. Where the parties’ surveyors are the same as before, […]

(2025 May: LinkedIn) In 1989, my client bought a property in South London prior to auction, let to a national retailer. The retailer closed the branch and offered a new intermediate lease for circa £1M which was bought by an investment company. That company sub-let the property to another national retailer. The rent reviews are […]

(2025 May) – Calculating interest on back rent following a rent review, many years ago, the author of a letter published in the Estates Gazette wrote about the difference in results that different makes and models of calculators produce. I think it’s something to do with the (behind-the-scenes) number of decimal points and the rounding. […]

(2025 May) Word of warning for tenants of new leases and on assignment and sublets. Given the choice between a rent deposit and a guarantor, many tenants prefer the former. However, currently, I am involved with two lease expiries where the landlords are withholding my clients’ rent deposits. In each case, the landlord’s reasoning is […]

(2025 May) – I underestimate how long it takes me to write a report. Wanting to be a perfectionist and being thorough makes for a demanding experience. I can ease off perfection, but not at the expense of thoroughness. In the same way, retail is detail, so is rent review. I used to use Grammarly […]

(2025 May) – For pre-contract enquiries, nowadays known as Commercial Property Standard Enquiries, “CPSE” for short, any temptation to answer most with ‘no’, or ‘not known’, or ‘not aware of’, is bound to be a waste of time. The person enquiring is sure to query anything that should be answered more fully. The information about […]

(2025 Jun ) – News that Hammerson have bought Standard Life’s (Abrdn) 95% interest in the Brent Cross Shopping Centre in NW London and are now working on buying from another a further 3% interest so as to own 100%, led me to read about the Centre on Wikipedia. I know a lot of about […]

(2025 Jun) – Key Flats was the public name of the London and County Freehold and Leasehold Properties Company Ltd, a residential property landlord, incorporated in June 1909 whose assets then valued at circa £300,000 and which by 1945 had grown to £10,000,000.  It was 1945 because I have a booklet from then titled “Where […]

(2025 Jul) – Inevitably, the powerful landlord lobby – institutional investors, pension funds, insurance companies, REITS, quoted and major property companies, their advisers, and likely thousands of anonymous private investors – are concerned about the proposal to ban upward only rent reviews and especially the lack of consultation. But, some 30 years ago, when the […]

(2025 July) It’s rare for me to include an article on RRM written by someone else, but I think the following is excellent. So, by kind permission of the author, Tom Pope of Lightlease: “The government’s announcement this week to ban upward-only rent reviews (UORRs) in commercial leases across England and Wales is perhaps the […]

(2025 Jul) – Although Bill 2025 applies to rent reviews in leases outside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, more leases granted outside LTA54 is suggested as a likely consequence of upward/downward rent review. The only times a lease can be granted outside LTA54 is on a new letting, or by agreement with an existing […]

(2025 Jul) – Sometimes I tell landlord-clients that, despite the rent review to open market rent, it’s unlikely they’ll get it. Instead, they’ll get a rent pro rata that another unrelated landlord got for a different property. It’s a methodology that compares each rent review with what rent someone else has agreed, so that each […]

(2025 Aug) – In my experience, RICS-appointed Independent Experts fall in one of two categories. (1) Conscientious – by which I mean the IE will measure the premises and calculate areas regardless of what the parties might’ve agreed, investigate, research and test evidence for accuracy with the person(s) involved and not merely rely on pro-forma […]

(2025 Aug) – The River Island saga is a stark reminder of the risk run when large landlords relax their investment policies that they apply to small businesses. Small businesses that are incorporated are normally expected to provide a personal guarantor when leasing premises, yet somehow the same strict approach is not required of multiple […]

(2025 Aug) – Shop investment: direct or indirect? Direct is owning the property, indirect is a shareholder. Which is better depends upon judicious choice. For direct ownership, cue is best taken from institutional investors. Pension funds have a longer time horizon. They do not pay 20 YP (5%) for 10 YP (10%) rack-rented investments. They […]

(2025 Aug: LinkedIn) – VOA areas and rent review. In many places, and often contrary to what is on-line, the VOA zoning methodology is not 6.1m/6.1m/6.1m (20’/20’/20′). but 4.57m/ 7.62m/ 6.1m (15’/25’/20′). Where VOA areas are relied on assuming 20/20/20 when they’re not is a common trip-up for rent review surveyors none the wiser. (Strictly, […]

(2025 Sep) – On referral and in the process of agreeing a Statement of Agreed Facts, it appears – in my experience – to be taken for granted that the SOAF will contain proforma of so-called comparable evidence even if neither party’s surveyor has had any involvement with the evidence premises. And not only reliance […]

(2025 Oct) – I have said this before, and I’ll say it again, not in the same words, there are a heck of a lot of private investors that have no idea what they’re letting themselves in for when they buy shop property investments. Reality hits home on renewal of the lease. The cushion, of […]

(2025 Oct). Here’s a conflict of interest issue. Surveyor A works for a firm of surveyors. Firm is instructed to do rent reviews for a multiple retailer. Directive nil increase. A gets to work and uses every trick in the book to achieve the client’s objective. I am instructed to act for a landlord whose […]

(2026 Feb: LinkedIn). Property owes its reputation as a long-term hedge against inflation to its potential for rental and capital growth. But for commercial property it is, in my opinion, a reputation well past its shelf-life. A consequence of what is known as yield compression, the attraction of commercial property as a safe bet has […]

(2026 Feb: LinkedIn) At rent review, we surveyors are told that, according to case law, arbitration awards are not admissible evidence because it depends upon the evidence presented to the arbitrator. However, something that (sort of*) makes sense to surveyors doesn’t apply to lawyers. Whenever one obtains a lawyer’s advice or opinion, invariably it will […]

Feb 2026 – The RICS DRS marking 50 years this year is to be congratulated. I have paid tribute direct including. of course, it helps to have a monopoly for appointments in probably every lease of commercial property in England and Wales. It wasn’t always thus. My experience of dispute resolution pre-dates the RICS DRS. […]

Feb 2026. Rent review and third party reasons. I act for a freeholder/ landlord whose tenant is a quoted property company. The tenant sub-lets the property to two different occupiers. The rent review in the head-lease between my client and prop co went to arbitration. In my submission to the arbitrator, I advocated that the […]

(2026 Apr: LinkedIn) – Upward / downward rent review will not, in my view, be an issue for institutional commercial property investors judicious in buying. Unlike private investors whose time-horizon ranges from personal pension to generational, with rarely any wider responsibility, institutional investor decision-makers are more likely responsible for hundreds/thousands of people whom they are […]

A list of retailers and businesses with numerous branches that have entered administration and/or rescued and/or downsizing since 2003 and before. ABC and Year