Objective
The Government produced its Statutory Review of the Pubs Code and the Pubs Code Adjudicator: 2016-2019 in November 2020. The report invited the reactions to the proposals contained within the review by stakeholders to help ensure these achieve the intended effect and avoid unintended consequences.

Background
The Licensees Association, as a representative body for the independent licensed trade, has prepared this report to meet the request of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The Licensees Association represents the views of the independent operator and is completely free from any landlord influence. The report is seen and approved by the membership in advance of publication.

In writing the report consideration is given to the two overarching principles that underpin the Pubs Code, that of “fair and lawful dealing” and the “no worse off” principles. We note the Government believes that the Code itself is consistent with the principles set out in the Act but that it is not consistently delivering the outcomes the principles are intended to support. We would agree.

We recognise the need for the review to balance the interest of both landlord and tenant and The Licensees Association is not inherently opposed to the tied leasehold model. We do, however, fully support the right of a tied tenant to ensure they are no worse off than a free of tie tenant by having access to a market rent should they wish. 

Read the Report by clicking the link below.

Our Report on the use of Upward Only Rent Reviews (UORR) looks at the history of the practice as well as how it works in other countries.

Plus we review how successive governments have been informed of the issues with UORR and have taken or little or no real action to cease this conduct.

The Licensees Association has a four point plan…

• The abolition of UORR clauses for one year from a set date to allow for all businesses affected by the pandemic to have the assurance that they will not be over rented as they recover from the pandemic.

• All businesses have the option of an open market rent review within one year of the set date and a moratorium against landlords taking action whilst negotiation takes place to ensure that landlords engage. Agreed rent to be backdated to the tenant’s or landlord’s request for the review. The new set rent to be applicable 5for a minimum of 50% of the normal review cycle up to a maximum of the regular review period.

• A review into UORR and Indexation to be commissioned by the government with legislation to follow should the commission recommend it. To report within one year of commission.

• The “Code of Practice for commercial property relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic” to be made mandatory.

The purpose of this guidance is to support tenants of premises in rent discussions with their landlords in the context of the Government’s recently published Code of Practice for commercial property. This guidance should be read alongside the Code. It is intended to apply where either:

• a tenant is seeking to settle rent debts and negotiate rental arrangements with their landlord following an impaired ability to pay due to Covid-19-related falls in turnover;

or

• a landlord is seeking to use the Code to enforce full payment of rent for the period affected by Covid-19. 

In this guide, we look at the measures both the industry and Licensees can take move to ensure our sector thrives as we move forward in a post-pandemic world.