Solicitors Blog | Allan Janes

Converting Commercial Property to Residential

October 13th 2020 | commercial property

Under the terms of the General Permitted Development Order (GDPO) in 2015, an owner of commercial property may be able to convert that to residential property without specific planning permission. This means it is entitled to do so under the terms of the GDPO. It is, however, important to understand read more...

Commercial Property: What is the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive possession?

September 9th 2020 | commercial property

Exclusive possession occurs when a tenant has occupation of all or part of commercial premises and has complete control over them. This means that they alone have access to the property and that no third party is entitled to share occupation with them or use the part of the property read more...

Is your tenant occupying commercial property with no formal documentation in place?

July 29th 2020 | commercial property

Tenants who are in continuous occupation of a either whole or part of commercial premises for a period of 6 months or more main gain security of tenure. This means that you may not be able to gain vacant possession of the property without application to the Court and, even read more...

When is a licence not a licence … when it’s a lease!

May 21st 2020 | commercial property

Short term tenants of commercial premises may sometimes be allowed occupation under the terms of a licence, or even a tenancy at will. This is an informal way of granting occupation of whole or part of a commercial property, usually for a short period of time, without entering into a read more...

Covid-19 (Coronavirus) – Government further restricts remedies available to commercial landlords

May 13th 2020 | commercial property

In my previous blog I mentioned the introduction of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and the protection it offered to commercial tenants by way of the moratorium put in place to prohibit landlords being able to take forfeiture/re-possession proceedings for rental arrears till 30th June 2020. I further set out the read more...

Commercial Property: Coronavirus (COVID 19) living, breeding and killing business – here’s the cure

April 7th 2020 | commercial property

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the misleading headline, I have used the word “cure” lightly, perhaps I should have used the word “plaster”. To all the commercial property and business owners out there, I feel your pain. As I type this blog, there is a sinkhole in our read more...

How Do I Exercise A Break Clause?

March 13th 2020 | commercial property

Within the terms of a commercial property lease there is sometimes an opportunity to prematurely determine a lease term before it has come to its contractual end. This is known as a “break clause” or “early termination provision”. The terms of the break clause within the lease will determine how read more...

Code for Leasing Business Premises updated by RICS

March 5th 2020 | commercial property

In February 2020, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (“RICS”) launched the Code for leasing business premises in England and Wales, which will officially come into effect on 1st September 2020 (“Lease Code 2020”). The Lease Code 2020 will replace the existing 2007 Code for leasing business premises, which was read more...

Commercial Property: Bank of Mum and Dad?

February 13th 2020 | commercial property

There is perhaps a striking similarity between supporting one’s offspring for a lifestyle they cannot afford and being a tenant of commercial premises. Frequently commercial leases oblige the tenant to be responsible for certain costs and outgoings on the property. Obvious provisions such as paying annual rent and a contribution read more...

Commercial Property Vodka and Tonic Charge (or, more boringly, VAT)

January 10th 2020 | commercial property

I am sure you would prefer a vodka and tonic rather than reading this, but if you don’t read this you will probably need a vodka and tonic if you fall into the VAT trap. VAT on commercial property is a very complex area. Broadly speaking, if commercial premises are read more...

Three is not Always a Crowd for a Groupie

December 4th 2019 | commercial property

Whereas it is not unusual for a commercial lease to contain provisions dealing with underletting, is an underlease always required when you are sharing occupation of a commercial building, or considering letting a tenant share occupation of a building you may own? The answer is not necessarily. It is quite read more...

Thinking of Breaking Up?

November 12th 2019 | commercial property

A relationship between a landlord and a tenant is (usually) governed by a commercial lease which the parties have entered into at the same time as the tenant takes occupation of the property. Such commercial relationships are, hopefully, usually harmonious. But what happens when one party wants to end the read more...

Determining the Status of a Tenant who has Remained in Occupation of a Commercial Property Following Expiry of a Contracted Out Lease

October 30th 2019 | commercial property

A “contracted out” Lease is where the security of tenure provisions under sections 24 to 28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the “1954 Act”) have been excluded from the Lease. The effect of doing so is that a tenant will not have an automatic right to renew its read more...

Side Letter Leggings or Full Denim Deed?

October 29th 2019 | commercial property

For those of you who are fashionista’s of Vivienne Westwood’s global empire I imagine that as a landlord one could only dream of the prestige of being one or more of her landlords (consider one’s image daaaahrling) and the unimaginative wealth of interest it would generate in the property investment read more...

Do I Need a Commercial Lease?

October 24th 2019 | commercial property

Although the risks of not having a commercial lease in place to formally document a tenant’s occupation is probably more of a risk from the landlord’s perspective there are a number of reasons why both a landlord and a tenant should enter into a formal lease: Certainty of terms – read more...

Brexit Stands as an Unviable Reason to Break a Commercial Lease

July 24th 2019 | commercial property

Landlords – heave a sigh of relief, tenants – look the other way. Following from my earlier article on this subject, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) has announced that it will not be appealing the High Court’s ruling which determined that Brexit would not frustrate its 25 year lease. Instead, read more...

Can You Break Your Commercial Lease Because of Brexit?

March 27th 2019 | commercial property

The short answer is NO – at least, not yet. Here’s why: This very question has just been answered by High Court judge, Mr Justice Smith, in the recent case of Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd & Ors v European Medicines Agency. This case concerns the ongoing battle between the read more...

Informal Oral Contract Costs Construction Company Almost £7 Million

March 18th 2019 | commercial property

Informal oral contracts remain sadly commonplace despite any number of examples of them leading to costly disputes, in one case, a construction company that allowed another to use its name in tendering for jobs ended up losing almost £7 million. One of the company’s senior employees was an acquaintance of read more...

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