Terminology
Act of God
An Act of God is an event outside of human control. For example, natural disasters such as floods, fires caused by lightning, storm at sea,...
Administration
Administration is the period in which the affairs, business and property of a company is managed by an insolvency practitioner known as an administrator. The...
Advocate
An advocate is someone who argues a case for the client in legal proceedings in court or a tribunal or quasi-legal proceedings. Unlike a lease...
Affidavit
An Affidavit is a written statement of evidence confirmed on oath or by affirmation to be the truth. An affidavit is a written statement of...
Agent
An agent is an individual or company authorised by the principal to act on behalf of the principal. Agency is the business carried on by...
Agreement for Lease
An agreement for lease is entered into by the parties where the grant of a lease is subject to condition(s) that have to be satisfied...
Alienation
Alienation is the transfer of property from one person to another. With business tenancy management, the term 'alienation' when used loosely includes assignment, underletting, sharing...
Alteration
Alteration is any work or works undertaken on the premises that would result in an alteration to the physical structure or layout of the premises....
Ancillary
Ancillary space is any part of the premises which provides support to the primary use and more valuable space. For example, ground floor shop whose...
Anniversary Dates
For anniversary dates, the general rule is that where a period is expressed to run "from" or after" a particular date, that date is excluded...
Asset Management
An asset is something, a quality, or a person, of use or value. An asset is something owned by a person or business that is...
Assignment
An assignment is a transfer of an interest from one person to another - for example, lease or goodwill for a business sale. An assignment...
Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Introduced by the Housing Act 1988, an "AST" is an assured shorthold tenancy for the letting of residential accommodation at the end of which the...
Authorised Guarantee Agreement
An Authorised Guarantee Agreement (known as an "AGA") is an agreement incorporated into a lease where the first or outgoing tenant (A) agrees to guarantee...
Break Clause
A break clause is a right entitling one or both parties to end the tenancy before the expiry of the contractual term. The break date...
Business Tenancy
The construction or framework of a lease, its content and wording, lays down the contractual responsibilities and obligations that the landlord and tenant have to...
Business Tenancy Law
A business tenancy is a commercial contract, which means the parties are deemed to know what they are doing. The terms and conditions that the...
Civil Procedure Rules
Under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, the Civil Procedure Rules ("CPR") is a procedural code, comprising rules and practice directions, used in legal...
Commercial Property
The economy is the wealth and resources of a country or region, normally in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services. In...
Competent Landlord
Within the meaning of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a 'competent landlord' is a landlord that has at least 14 months unexpired interest in...
Demise
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...
Dilapidations
Dilapidation is another word for disrepair....
Dispute Resolution
Depending on the nature of the dispute, there are various methods of resolution. At rent review, the usual methods, a process known as referral, are...
Economical Rent
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,...
Effluxion of Time
The expiration of a limited-time agreement or contract: the tenancy ended by effluxion of time....
Five Key Dates
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...
Fixtures & Fittings
Fixtures and fittings comprise things that are attached to the landlord or building in a permanent manner, becoming part of the property rather than easily...
Footfall
Footfall is pedestrian flow, the number of people that walk past the shop on a regular basis. In my opinion, there are two types of...
Framework of a lease
The framework or construction of a lease, its content and wording, lays down the contractual responsibilities and obligations that the landlord and tenant have with...
Framework of review clause
The framework of a well-drafted review clause will comprise: 1) The review dates2) Procedure for operating the review3) Valuation guidelines4) Timetable for agreement5) Dispute resolution...
FRI Lease
FRI is an abbreviation for "full repairing and insuring". Full repairing means the tenant is responsible for all repairs and decoration to the property, inside...
Growth
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...
Guarantor or Rent deposit
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...
Holding Over
Where a tenancy would on expiry of the contractual term qualify for rights under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 but no statutory procedures are...
Index-linked – CPI
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the official measure of inflation of consumer prices of the United Kingdom. “The CPI calculates the average price increase...
Index-linked – RPI
The Retail Prices Index or Retail Price Index - RPI - is a measure of inflation published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. It...
Insurance
When a lease requires the tenant to pay the landlord’s cost of insuring the premises, the relevant clause will usually refer to the landlord’s covenant...
Interest Rates
For MLR and Base Rate changes since 1989, please click here....
Investment
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...
Investment – Indirect
Whether you invest direct or through a property fund manager, the same principles and the same approach to appraisal will apply. The fundamental question is...
Investment – Performance
Performance is the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task or function. The physical form of an investment is the medium...
Investment – Stock Market – REIT
Investing directly requires skills that may not be available to the investor: it also requires the availability of the desired proposition. Buying shares in a...
ITZA
For information about ITZA and zoning, including examples, please visit ITZA Explanation....
Landlord and Tenant Relationship
The relationship of landlord and tenant may be described as the relationship which exists between the parties to a demise and between their respective assigns....
Lawful Development Certificates
There are instances where changes of use can take place without the need for planning permissions. This is because the Use Classes Order 1987 specially...
Lease
The terms and conditions of a tenancy are embodied in a document, known as a 'lease'. Although the terms and conditions of the completed agreement...
License
The other type of occupancy known as a licence can cause problems and is generally to be avoided. Licence is a personal privilege that makes...
Listed Buildings
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...
Market Rent
There are two types of market value: the capital value and the rental value. The matters to be taken into account for the market rental...
Market Value
The definition of "market value" has become institutionalised by the International Valuation Standards Council ("IVSC") and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ("RICS"). To the...
Marketing
Marketing is a function of business management: a means to an end. A generic term, embracing all forms of communication and promotion - for example,...
Measurement and Areas
The RICS Code of Measuring was introduced to ensure consistency in methodology. Net Internal Area (NIA) is the usable area within a building measured to...
Negotiation
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...
Open Market
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)....
Open market rent review
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...
Periodic Tenancy
A periodic tenancy - also known as a tenancy from year to year, month to month, or week to week - is a tenancy that...
Planning Permission
Town planning is a function of Central and Local Government and is a democratic process. Since 1948, planning permission has been required for all new...
Point of Law
In Shirlcar Properties Ltd v Heinitz & Another [1982], the Court stated stated that use of the expression 'subject to contract' did not constitute effective...
Presumption of Reality
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...
Privity of Contract and Authorised Guarantee Agreement
Privity of contract and authorised guarantees with a commercial Lease It is an established rule of English law that a person can only enforce a...
Property Market (Real Estate)
The property market, sometimes known as "real estate”, comprises the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from individual buildings, to villages,...
Purpose of Rent Review
The purpose of rent review is threefold: 1) to enable the landlord to review the rent payable; 2) for the tenant to ensure the rent...
Quiet Enjoyment
A lease of either residential or commercial premises will usually contain an express covenant for quiet enjoyment and, if no such covenant is present in...
Real Estate
The definition of 'property' encompasses more than just real property, also known as real estate, but in British usage, "real property", often shortened to "property",...
Rent
Rent is a system of payment for the temporary use of something owned by someone else; the payments for such use are typically referred to...
Rent Deposit
A rent deposit is a sum of money that is provided by the tenant to the landlord as security for payment of the rent and...
Review dates
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...
RICS Fees
In connection with the dispute resolution procedure, such as the appointment of an Independent Expert or nomination of an Arbitrator, with effect from 1 March...
RPI Rent Calculator
RPI and Rent Calculator To calculate the Retail Price Index percentage change and apply the percentage to the rent for the adjusted figure, please visit...
SDLT
SDLT (replaces Stamp Duty) may become payable when all or part of an interest in land or property is transferred from one person to another...
Service Charge
The idea of a service charge is that the landlord uses the amount of the charge to pay for the costs of repairing, maintaining and...
Side-Letter
Side-letters are informal agreements by landlords to alter provisions in leases by exchange of correspondence with the tenant and are usually entered into when the...
Subject to Contract
In England and Wales, any outline terms that are agreed in principle or “heads of terms” are “subject to contract”. It is important to state...
Tax and VAT
Generally, investors own property in their own names, or a partnership (LLP) and/or through a limited company (LTD or PLC) and/or through a trust or...
Tenancy
A tenancy exists when someone lets premises to another for a term in return for a rent. There are three types of tenancy: • 1....
Tenant
'The term 'tenant' originates from the feudal system. Under the feudal system, all land belonged to the king and was lent out to the lords. ...
Term
The term of a tenancy is the duration or period of time for the contractual right to occupy the premises. For example, a tenancy granted...
The principles of good estate management
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...
Types of rent review
1) Fixed increments at set intervals2) Formulaic such as index-linked or linked to turnover.3) Open Market Rent4) Ground rent - strictly not a type but...
Undertaking on Costs
An undertaking on costs is an undertaking by one person to pay the costs of another. An undertaking on costs is legally-enforceable on the person...
Upward only rent review
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...
Use Class
Use Classes come under Town Planning legislation and usually in a Use Class Order and/or a General Permitted Development Order. Planning permission is normally required...
Use Class A5
In 2009, LB Waltham Forest introduced a policy, likely to be copied by other planning authorities, of not allowing take-away food shops to open within...
VAT
Land and buildings, such as freehold sales, leasing or renting, are normally exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT). (For VAT purposes, the definition of “land”...
VAT and storage
"As from 1 October 2012, the VAT exemption for storage facilities was withdrawn on a blanket basis and VAT will automatically be payable on rent...
Yield and Pricing
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...
Yield Compression
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...