Lease Advisory
Our lease advisory experts devise innovative solutions around lease events for both owners and occupiers of commercial property. Please get in touch with a member of our lease advisory team today.
Embedded within active market leasing, tenant representation & capital markets teams, our advisors seek to add value/make savings for our clients by providing innovative strategies that reflect the very latest market trends.
Why Knight Frank?
To deliver the best results for our clients, we believe it is essential to keep pace with market transactions, sentiment and practice, but also with ever-changing case law and statute that affect owner and occupier relationships.
Through our commercial offices network across the UK we have access to extensive market information, enabling us to offer consistently high levels of service to local, regional, national and international clients.
Our areas of expertise
Lease restructure/regears
Our teams specialise in identifying opportunities to add value/make savings for their occupier or owner clients through restructuring or re-gearing leases.
These come in many forms but can include break waivers, diluting reinstatement/dilapidations liabilities, entering reversionary leases to extend terms, pre-agreeing rent reviews etc.
At all times, we actively seek to maximise the value of such opportunities by providing a cogent strategy, through financial appraisal of options and detailed negotiation of new/revised lease terms.
Rent reviews
Technical expertise coupled with local market knowledge enables us to provide market leading advice and negotiation of rent reviews and (if necessary) to act as expert witnesses /advocates in arbitration / independent expert proceedings.
Lease expiries & renewals
The end of a lease offers an opportunity to renew the lease terms, including (but not limited to) the rent, which can go up or down.
Our lease advisory experts are experienced in negotiating lease renewals at expiry or reversionary leases in advance of lease expiry. In particular, our advisors are highly experienced in negotiating renewals of tenancies protected by the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 and dealing with Court procedures if required.
Lease Surrenders
We negotiate surrenders of leases for both owners and occupiers and in so doing provide financial analysis of the associated cost/benefit as well as detailed input into the negotiation of the precise terms of the surrender.
Dilapidations – Section 18 Diminution Valuations
Our Lease Advisory surveyors provide advice on the extent to which the statutory/common law cap applies to damages payable for breach of repairing/reinstatement obligations.
Often working alongside our colleagues in our Project Management and Building Consultancy team, we prepare the valuations needed to assess the extent of the diminution in value resulting from a tenant’s failure to repair/reinstate.
Should it not be possible to resolve the dispute through negotiations, we are experienced in acting as expert witnesses in Court trial proceedings.
Arbitration & independent expert referrals
Many of our advisors are qualified to act as arbitrators and independent experts to resolve rental disputes arising under leases and are regularly approached by the RICS Dispute Resolution process to take up appointments.