Solicitors Blog | Allan Janes

Rent Quarter Days Explained

April 22nd 2024 | commercial property

When dealing with leases of commercial property, in England and Wales the rent payments are often described as quarterly in advance, which is a significant change from a monthly payment in arrears basis that you would expect to see in a residential lease. Clearly, not only can this be confusing read more...

What Are Capital Allowances and Why Are They Important?

January 17th 2024 | commercial property

When a business makes a capital investment, the expenditure is recorded in the business accounts on the balance sheet as a fixed asset. These assets will then over time depreciate, however the business is not able to make any deductions for this depreciation when calculating its profit and loss. Taxpayers read more...

Tenants Beware Of Christmas! Keeping On Top Of Rent Payments And Break Dates

October 20th 2023 | commercial property

The Christmas period for most people usually means time away from work, or at least a time where your mind can focus on other things like family and fine wining and dining. BUT beware commercial tenants! Yes, this is probably not the most exciting blog to read and I hate read more...

VAT in Commercial Property: An Overview

August 16th 2023 | commercial property

As real estate usually makes up a large proportion of a company’s assets and the value of the transactions are usually quite high, it is important for any seller or buyer to think about the tax implications of any transfer or grant of interest in a property. Aside from SDLT read more...

Exercising a Break Clause in a Commercial Lease – Vacant Possession v Vacant Occupation.

July 10th 2023 | commercial property

In a transaction for an interest in an estate of land, it is usual for the transferor (the seller) to contract to give ‘vacant possession’ to the transferee (the buyer) upon completion. But what does this actually mean? It means the seller is contracting to leave the property empty on read more...

Break Clause Still Valid After 4 Years

April 21st 2023 | commercial property

The High Court has taken being on a break to new heights. It held in a recent case ( Vistra v CDS ) a break notice was still valid four years after being served. The facts of the case get more interesting, the break notice was served by a former read more...

Executing Real Estate Documents – The Key Differences Between a Contract and a Deed

April 4th 2023 | commercial property

There are two forms of written agreement you need to be aware of, namely simple contracts and deeds. This article explores executing documents in real estate. Difference between a contract and a deed Most commonly documents will be executed as simple contracts. A simple contract does not usually need to read more...

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards

February 15th 2023 | commercial property

1 April 2023 is a key date for the minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) to commercial property in England and Wales as from then a landlord cannot continue to let commercial property, regardless of when the lease was entered into, if the property has an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of read more...

Signs Your Tenant May Be Facing Financial Hardship

January 23rd 2023 | commercial property

It is important for Landlords to spot the warning signs when a commercial tenant is facing financial difficulties to help them minimise their losses. Tenants are often reluctant to let their landlord know if there are issues, but there are some common signs which might indicate a problem. Paying rent read more...

How Do I Break A Lease?

October 20th 2022 | commercial property

As well as having practiced as a property lawyer since 2001 I’ve also been an active property investor and developer and over the years I’ve come across many different scenarios that potentially affect all property professionals so over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing a few of read more...

Newsflash: Update on Covid and Rent Challenges

August 5th 2022 | commercial property

Following my last blog in October 2021 we shared the gloomy news that three high profile high street tenants, (namely Sports Direct, Mecca Bingo and Cineworld) lost their challenge against payment of rents during the Covid shutdowns in 2020 and 2021. A key argument was that their landlords, Bank of New read more...

The New Coronavirus Commercial Rent Act 2022

July 7th 2022 | commercial property

A new law in England and Wales is now in place to help return order to the commercial property market. It addresses the outstanding rent debts that have accrued during the pandemic. The ‘Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022’, which received Royal Assent at the end of March, ended the extended read more...

Covid Rent Arrears: The Government Intervenes

November 30th 2021 | commercial property

The Government has just introduced the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill into Parliament which seeks to introduce a statutory arbitration process for dealing with any outstanding Covid arrears that arose during a set period. The Bill grants commercial landlords and tenants, who have not agreed how to deal with Covid closure read more...

How do I claim relief from VAT on the Sale or Lease of a Commercial Property? A Quick Guide

October 25th 2021 | commercial property

The impact of VAT charged on the sale or lease of a commercial property should not be underestimated. It could add costs of up to 20% (the standard rate) of the total value of the property. There are also serious penalties for failing to account for VAT when it is read more...

Covid and Rent Challenges: This Is Not Over Yet

October 8th 2021 | commercial property

While the vaccine rollout has been a gamechanger for the progress of the pandemic it is it not over and the Government’s announcement this week that further measures could be required over winter sends a worrying chill through UK business, as the prospect of further lockdowns cannot be ruled out. read more...

What is the Difference between a Tenancy at Will and a Licence to Occupy?

October 7th 2021 | commercial property

There are many different ways that you can occupy property, from buying to renting and everything in between. When dealing with commercial property, a landlord has a few different options to document a short-term period of occupation. The three options available are a lease, licence and a tenancy at will read more...

Can My Wife Witness My Deed?

September 23rd 2021 | commercial property

A deed is a document which requires more than a simple signature to be validly executed. They are used for a range of matters, such as transferring ownership when buying and selling a house. Therefore, it is likely that you will sign a deed at some point in your life read more...

Is VAT Chargeable on the Sale or Lease of a Commercial Property? A Quick Guide

September 1st 2021 | commercial property

By default, the sale or lease of a commercial property is VAT exempt unless it is a new build (less than 3 years old). This would mean that the purchaser or tenant does not have to pay VAT. However, VAT will be payable if the seller or landlord chooses to read more...

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...

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...