header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Rent reviews: ups & downs

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
05 September 2025 / Thomas Rothwell , Kavish Shah
Issue: 8129 / Categories: Features , Property , Landlord&tenant , Commercial
printer mail-detail
228909
Thomas Rothwell & Kavish Shah report on the surprising introduction of downward rent reviews
  • Legislation has been introduced to Parliament to ban upwards-only rent reviews in commercial leases.
  • Part of the proposals will also permit tenants to trigger rent reviews, even where the wording of their lease does not allow them to do so.
  • The government is aiming to deal with what it sees as a power imbalance and to bring down high street rents. However, without recent consultation, it is not clear whether there is enough evidence behind the proposals.
  • It will be interesting to see if parties adapt rent review clauses away from variable factors (like open market rent) and towards stepped rents.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, introduced to Parliament on 10 July 2025, contained a surprise: a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in commercial leases. There has not been any consultation with industry about this change.

Commonly, rent review clauses in commercial leases contain upwards-only rent reviews, meaning

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Set creates new client and business development role amid growth

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Sports disputes practice launchedwith partner appointment

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

Tax and succession planning offering expands with returning partner

NEWS
Read All
Who’s on the 2026 silk list?
The rank of King’s Counsel (KC) has been awarded to 96 barristers, and no solicitors, in the latest silk round
NLJ this week: When your brain signs the contract
Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent
NLJ this week: Comparators—how close is close enough?
Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first
NLJ this week: Domicile—more than where you live
In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss
NLJ this week: Police, contempt and the rule of law
Can a chief constable be held responsible for disobedient officers? Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth, professor of public law at De Montfort University, examines a Court of Appeal ruling that answers firmly: yes
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll