What we do is simplify and explain. We read your lease and translate its meaning into the real world. We explain to you what it means and how best to proceed forward. We know what every single clause in your lease means and what affect each clause has on your rent review. We develop a strategy with you and decide whether to defend or attack to your best advantage. No two leases are the same, so it is impossible to be specific on the procedures. But it all begins with a lease summary. In short, we can't do anything without your lease. A summary is essential before we can move onto anything else. Once done, it will tell us all about your lease, the review mechanism and what the alternative dispute resolution procedures are.

Finally, the things to watch out for from your landlord (and never ignore) are; formal Rent Review or Trigger Notices. Your lease may have strict time bound timetables. If you miss them, you can automatically forfeit your right to a rent review. It can even mean that your landlord can force through a higher rent! So never ignore these Notices. Call us and we will advise you.

Rent reviews are fairly recent in the commercial property world. In the 1950s and 60s there were few, if any rent reviews during the term of a lease, as inflation was not a major issue. However, in today's sophisticated economic environment that has changed. Inflation now affects all areas of our lives and property investment, like all other forms of investment, is no exception. As a consequence, landlords have resorted to the Rent Review as a method of preserving the real return on an investment.

However, landlords don't only seek to readdress the devaluation of the pound with their investment. They also try to add value to the rent, and therefore their investment, by persuading tenants that their building is more valuable or the location is far better than any other. It's here where a tenant can really come unstuck and where professional, experienced advice is most needed.

BMH only represent tenants and therefore we are always acting against landlords and their agents in a rent review. So, over the years we have identified the main areas of contention in a review. They usually comprise, the rent, the rent review mechanism, the repairing obligation, the size and age of the premises and comparable evidence. What seems like a relatively simple exercise from the tenant perspective can quickly descend into a mass of bewildering issues regarding the finer points in a lease. This only serves to infuriate tenants and generate misunderstanding and distrust with the landlord. Anyone who has read a lease can attest to that!