Michael Lever

Upward / downward rent review – a new challenge.

13 April 2026

(2026-April: LinkedIn) Currently, with an upward-only review and when acting for the tenant, although the open market rent should be agreed or ascertained regardless, it’s more usual to regard that as academic – the rent payable immediately before the review would continue unchanged (unless the lease stipulates otherwise). Academic perhaps but a memorandum akin to ‘nil increase’ doesn’t necessarily mean the premises are over-rented so, as comparable evidence, a landlord can benefit from tenant’s indifference. The new challenge is that a downward review removes the cushion that surveyors lazily relax on and replaces it with a need to value. Except for the differences, if any, between the hypothetical lease and sections 33 to 35 LTA54, an upward / downward open market rent review requires a similar approach to valuing the market rent on renewal of a lease inside LTA54.

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