Madam, – Like many other small businesses, we are caught up in the system which sought to insulate commercial property owners against any downturn in the economy. Some commentators are suggesting that when we signed our lease, there was a choice that we could make, that we could have negotiated a better deal.
This was most certainly not the case for us, nor for many businesses like ours. When we found the building we now trade from, we were offered a lease which was the “industry standard”. This was all we could have – take it or leave it. To suggest that we could have negotiated any of the terms is wrong.
In my view, the commercial property sector and some of their cohorts have been guilty of, at best, anti-competitive practice.They seem to have colluded, to have operated as a cartel, preventing small business-owners from having any negotiating power at the table.
Commentators may say that the new legislation which bans upward only rent reviews was unwarranted – that prevailing economic realities are now compelling landlords to “be more flexible”. I wouldn’t trust the property industry not to try its luck again in the future, given the way some landlords are now being inflexible and seem happy enough to let good businesses sink while they swim. – Yours, etc,