Managing Commerical Property , livre ebook

Straightforward Publishing

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

73 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

A Straightforward Guide to Managing Commercial Property, revised edition, substantially updates the previous edition in the light of recent changes in landlord and tenant law. The book will enable the reader to understand the main areas of this complex and complicated field, one that is usually left to the professionals. By using this clear and easy to understand guide, the processes of managing commercial property, in the main smaller premises, will become that much easier.

Sujets

Droit et juridique

Informations

Publié par	Straightforward Publishing
Date de parution	25 mars 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781913776886
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

A STRAIGHTFORWARD GUIDE TO Managing Commercial Property
Steven Rimmer
Editor: Roger Sproston
Straightforward Guides www.straightforwardco.co.uk
Straightforward Guides
Straightforward Co Ltd 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holders.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-913342-54-8 ePUB ISBN: 978-1-913776-88-6 Kindle ISBN: 978-1-913776-79-4
Printed by 4edge www.4edge.co.uk
Cover design by Straightforward Graphics
Whilst every effort has been taken to ensure that the information presented in this book is accurate at the time of going to print, the authors and publishers cannot accept any liability for errors or omissions contained within or for any changes to the law as it affects the management of commercial property.
Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. Business leases
Chapter 2 . Main principles of Business Leases
Chapter 3. Rent Reviews
Chapter 4. Maintenance Obligations
Chapter 5. Insurance
Chapter 6 . Service Charges
Chapter 7 . Assignment and Subletting
Chapter 8 . Repossession of a Business lease by a landlord
Chapter 9 . Privity of Contract
Chapter 10 . Disputes and Resolution of Disputes
Chapter 11. Business Rates
Chapter 12. Security of Tenure for Business Tenants-Lease renewal
Index
Appendix 1. The Commercial Property Code of Practice During the Pandemic
Appendix. 2. Forms and their purposes under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part 2
Appendix 3. A Sample Business Lease
**
Introduction
This book is suitable for both business tenants or prospective tenants or budding landlords of commercial property. Of course, the entire landscape has changed since the onset of the Pandemic in 2020 and the effect on both landlords and tenants of commercial property has been very significant indeed. One of the main effects has been on the ability of tenants to pay rent which of course impacts on the ability of landlords to cover their costs. The ability of landlords to claim forfeiture has also been impacted.
The Commercial Property Code of Practice during the Pandemic
On 19 June 2020, the Government issued a new voluntary Code of Practice for commercial property. The Code has been developed with leaders from the retail, hospitality and property sectors to provide clarity for businesses when discussing rental payments and to encourage best practice between landlords and tenants so that all parties are supported. Importantly for landlords, the Code encourages tenants to continue to pay their rent in full where they are able to do so whilst also encouraging landlords to provide support to their tenants when they able to do so. Whilst the Code is voluntary, the Government has stated that it will make it mandatory, if necessary, should landlords and tenants refuse to commit to implementing its terms.
The code covers Rental Arrangements, Service Charge and Insurance and extension of existing principles. The Code sits alongside other Government measures introduced to help businesses such as the moratorium on forfeiture of commercial leases, changes to CRAR, service of statutory demands and winding up petitions. The Government has announced the following changes:
The Coronavirus Act 2020 will be amended to extend the moratorium on forfeiture for non-payment of rent until 31st March 2021.
The tenant must now owe at least 189 days arrears before the remedy can be exercised to include service of notice on a sub-tenant for payment of sub-rents to the landlord. This restriction will remain in force until 31st March 2021.
The moratorium against service of statutory demands/issue of winding up proceedings has been extended to 31st March 2021.
However, as everything in the fast changing COVID 19 landscape, landlords and tenants should check the updated advice on www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-protection-for-businesses .
For a fuller outline of the Commercial Property Code of Practice during the Pandemic see appendix 1.
One major aspect of business that a business tenant/lessee enters into is that of signing an agreement for a business premises. This agreement may be a tenancy agreement, running from week to week or a longer-term lease running from 1year to 21 years (usually). The latter is known as a fixed term agreement and it is this type of agreement that is the main object of this book although periodic tenancies are referred to.
This book attempts to give a brief introduction to the effective management of business leases/tenancies of business premises. It is as comprehensive as possible, drawing on many years of experience and also taking aspects of management from best practice publications produced over the years. The approach is practical and seeks to avoid using technical jargon, allowing the business tenant, or prospective business tenant, to at least understand what it is they are signing up for.
To this end, the book begins by covering the nature of a lease and the way it is constructed, and then discusses specifically the nature of a business lease, covering rent reviews, maintenance, insurance, service charges (if applicable), assigning a lease, repossession, obligations under contract even when assigned, dispute resolution and security of tenure for business tenants under the law. There are key points at the end of each chapter and there is a sample business lease in appendix 2.
The book should be suitable for a variety of readers, from the person entering into an agreement for a commercial premises for the first time, either as an occupier or as an investor, or for students and practitioners who want to refresh their knowledge of the law. The information in the book relates to England and Wales. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland is different in some respects.
In May 2018, the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) issued a Discussion Paper on commercial leases in Scotland. The Discussion Paper addresses six aspects of commercial leasing in relation to which there is considered to be problems in practice.
In Scotland, there is little statutory regulation of commercial leases. The modern commercial lease was imported from England in the 1970s. At that time, the Scottish legal profession adapted the English style of commercial lease for use in Scotland without importing the legislative framework for leases which existed in England and Wales, namely the Law of Property Act 1925 and the Landlord Tenant Act 1954. The rules governing commercial leasing in Scotland instead have evolved through custom and practice.
For useful information concerning Scottish Business tenancies go to:
www.lawdepot.co.uk/law-library/faq/commercial-lease-agreement-faq-united-kingdom-scotland
In Northern Ireland the law that governs Commercial leases is the 1954 Landlord and Tenant Act and also the Business Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.
For useful information concerning Northern Ireland Business Tenancies go to: www.mylawyer.co.uk/commercial-leases .
**
Chapter 1
Business Leases Generally

This chapter deals generally with business leases and sets out the basic framework that governs these sorts of agreements. The fundamental principles of business leases are dealt with in the next chapter.
Many people entering into a business lease do not have a clear idea of what it is they are entering into. This is most often the case with those involved in setting up a business for the first time. The agreement signed with a landlord is, often, the single most expensive business item and it is potentially the area that will result in future problems if a clear understanding is not gained at the outset.
Those new to business leases will find themselves confronted with a series of technical terms, some of which are interchangeable and are used throughout this book.
These terms are as follows:
Lease or demise
A lease is a formal document under which land and premises is demised or leased to a tenant. Demised premises is a label for the land with a building or buildings.
Landlord or lessor
These alternative terms are used to describe the estate owner who grants the lease in question. A landlord can be a freeholder (outright owner) or head leaseholder.
Tenant or lessee
These interchangeable words describe a person who accepts a lease.
Assignor or assignee
By assignment is meant the outright transfer of the lease to another person. The assignor is the person transferring and the assignee the person accepting.
Sub leases (sub demises)
A sub lease takes place when a person already has a lease from a head landlord and that person creates another lease to someone else.
The relationship of the landlord to the leaseholder (tenant)
The relationship of the landlord to the tenant arises where one person who owns either the freehold or a leasehold interest in a property grants to another an interest which is lesser than his own term. The creation of a lease, correctly executed, passes a legal estate in land to the tenant. The lease must either be for a term certain or fixed term i.e. 5, 10 or 20 years, or for a periodic term, which runs from week to week or month to month and is capable of being ended by notice to quit from either party. On the termination of a fixed term lease or periodic tenancy, at the end of the term, the tenant s estate in land ends. However, the rules governing the ending of business leases are laid out clearly in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Part 2, and unless a strict notice procedure prescribed by the Act is followed, then the lease will continue as a statutory tenancy. As we will see in Chapter 12, a business tenant has very clear rights to the continuation of a tenancy and the grant of a new tenancy unless the landlord has strong reasons for preventing this.