Real estate for retail

Published Article

AI generated designs on retail products

Every AI will have its own terms of use. DALL·E 2’s Terms of Use dated 3 November 2022 specify that as between a user and Open AI, a user owns their prompts and uploads. Open AI also assigns to the user all rights in any images generated by DALL·E 2 for that user (subject to the user complying with those Terms of Use, and to a licence to use inputs and output to develop and improve the services).

Opinion

Don't look down

An engineering company in Tyne and Wear was fined £20,000 after a worker fractured his pelvis and suffered internal injuries after falling through a petrol station forecourt canopy, whilst he was replacing the guttering.

Opinion

Rent arrears post-Covid: What are the landlord’s options?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, landlords and tenants have experienced significant limitations in the way rent arrears could be pursued. We first saw the moratorium on the recovery of Covid related arrears, and more recently we’ve experienced the implementation of the Covid arrears arbitration scheme.

Published Article

RAAC planks and its impact on local authorities

Recent reports of flat roofs constructed using RAAC planks collapsing without warning prompted the SCOSS alert.

Legal Update

W (No.3) GP (Nominee A ) Ltd and another v J D Sports Fashion Plc (Nottingham County Court, 22 October 2021)

The County Court refuses the landlord’s request to include a turnover rent in a statutory lease renewal.

Opinion

Covid-19 rent arrears – the questions that remain

The Government appears set to announce plans on ‘living with Covid to restore freedom’. With the success of the retail and hospitality sector key to recovery, what protections will be on offer to tenants to deal with Covid-19 rent arrears?

Legal Update

Macey v Pizza Express (Restaurants) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2847 (Ch)

A landlord did not demonstrate the requisite intention required to oppose a statutory lease renewal underground (g).

Legal Update

Stonecrest Marble Ltd v Shepherds Bush Housing Association Ltd [2021] EWHC 2621 (Ch)

Where a lease provides a comprehensive scheme of repair and insurance, the court will not imply terms to cover any gaps in that scheme.

Press Release

Wolverhampton based Slick Stitch secures major contract with high street retail giant

Legal Update

Capitol Park Leeds Plc and another v Global Radio Services Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 995

A tenant who handed back an empty shell of a building had complied with a condition of its break option to give vacant possession of the property.

Legal Update

Presenting a winding up petition to recover pandemic rent arrears

The government has now published new regulations to replace the winding up restrictions mentioned above from 1 October 2021. The key point of interest from a landlord and tenant perspective is that these new regulations will prevent a landlord from presenting a winding up petition to recover rent until 31 March 2022 where the sums are unpaid by the tenant because of the financial effect of the pandemic.

Legal Update

The government’s plans for dealing with Covid-19 rent arrears – some more details emerge

Last week, the government published a policy statement to deal with rent arrears accrued during the pandemic for those businesses affected by the pandemic.

Published Article

Correcting a mistake in an retail prices index rent review clause

A court will not alter an unambiguous contractual term merely because it is unduly favourable to one party, imprudent or unreasonable or because it provides for one party to pay too high a price for something. However, a court can correct the literal meaning of a contractual provision by construction if it is clear both that a mistake has been made and what the provision was intended to say.

Opinion

Handing back an empty shell of a building did not prevent a tenant from exercising a break clause

Break rights have proved a fertile source of litigation over the last few years. More often than not, tenants have found themselves on the wrong end of the decisions. However, a Court of Appeal decision yesterday has bucked that trend.

Legal Update

Restrictions on landlords’ remedies extended again and extra protection to be given to certain businesses

The delay in the full easing of lockdown restrictions and the knock on effect for certain tenants (particularly those in the hospitality and entertainment industry) has clearly caused a change of heart and the government has now announced a further extension of the restrictions.

Opinion

Commercial landlord and tenant: Ban on evictions extended

Stephen Barclay the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has today announced that the ban on commercial evictions is to be extended to 25 March 2022.

Opinion

Relief for landlords as the Court of Appeal confirms that leases have been validly contracted out

One of the requirements for tenants to contract out of the security of tenure regime contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is that they make a simple or statutory declaration before entering into the lease.

Opinion

Summary judgment stayed where part 26A restructuring plan pending

Landlords should reconsider summary judgment if a Part 26A restructuring plan is pending.

Opinion

Landlords’ claims for summary judgment for ‘Covid’ rent arrears succeed (again)

A landlord’s claim for summary judgment to recover rent and service charge arrears accrued since the start of the pandemic against a non-essential retailer succeeded. Like London buses, a second such case has followed hot on its heels.

Opinion

The High Court offers no comfort for beleaguered retailers

Whilst this decision may not be surprising, it will undoubtedly send a chill down the spine of retailers in a similar position to The Fragrance Shop.

Legal Update

Commercial rents and Covid-19: Call for evidence

The government announced that it would be launching a call for evidence to help monitor the overall progress of negotiations between landlords and tenants for paying or writing off outstanding rents. This call for evidence has now been published.

Legal Update

Tenant protections extended again

The government was extending to 31 March 2021 the various tenant protections it has brought in since the pandemic began. However, that announcement of course pre-dated the current lockdown and it will come as a surprise to no-one that, despite this, the protections have been extended again until 30 June 2021.

Legal Update

Break notices for commercial tenants – beware of the common pitfalls

Due to numerous recent issues affecting the property market more and more break notices are being served by commercial tenants. At the same time, more and more tenants are seeking break rights in their new leases in order to provide them with flexibility when it comes to their real estate.

Opinion

Service charges – the bad news keeps coming for tenants!

A few months ago, we discussed a case where the Court of Appeal ruled that the wording of a lease precluded the tenant from arguing that certain costs should not have been included in the service charge calculation. A recent high-profile case concerns a broadly similar issue, this time in relation to the proportion of the landlord’s costs payable by a tenant.

Legal Update

Sara & Hossein Asset Holding Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 1521

A landlord’s service charge certificate was conclusive as to the sums payable by a tenant under a lease.