Real estate for retail
We have extensive experience of acting for retailers and understand the cost pressures faced in an increasingly competitive marketplace. We can provide innovative solutions on the full spectrum of property related issues, from the initial planning stage through to completion, and you will benefit from involving us right at the outset. Our goal is to provide commercial advice which mitigates your risk and ensures that your projects are delivered on time.
- Large dedicated team – over 50 lawyers , advising on all real estate issues including planning, construction, tax, property litigation and environmental matters.
- Experience – lawyers with substantial retail experience, either working in house with retailers or participating in secondment programmes, with first-hand commercial retail experience.
- Expertise – extensive roll-outs of stores in high streets and out of town locations, helping clients to secure the best possible terms for leases of premises and advising on the structure of deals.
- Clients – experience in dealing with all major shopping centres and landlords in England – including White City, Westfield’s Olympic Village, the BullRing, Bicester Village and the Trafford Centre.
Key contacts
Claire Burns
Legal Director
Caroline Green
Senior Partner
Mike Hoye
Legal Director
Mark Hymers
Senior Associate
Sarah Parkinson
Partner
Suki Tonks
Partner
You may be interested in...
Legal Update
Pitfalls for retailers to avoid when offering access to ‘buy now, pay later’ products
Opinion
Supreme court rules on retail tenant's service charge bill
Published Article
Consumer duty part 3 - 'The drill-down' into the 'cross-cutting' rules
Press Release
Browne Jacobson’s retail lawyers advise Wilko on its strategic £48m sale and leaseback of Nottinghamshire distribution centre to DHL
National law firm Browne Jacobson has advised long standing retail client, Wilko on the sale and leaseback of its Nottinghamshire distribution centre in Worksop to logistics specialist DHL for £48m.
Legal Update
Is this the end for free returns?
Earlier in the year a number of fashion retailers, boldly announced the introduction of a charging fee for returning any product purchased via their online store. Yet, despite this commercial, and perhaps somewhat controversial decision, at least one major fashion giant that adopted this approach has recorded ‘historic highs’ in its September profits. Browne Jacobson partner, Cat Driscoll who heads up the firm’s commercial team in Manchester and is also head of its Fashion & Beauty sector discusses whether this change has put the average consumer off and whether the days of free returns are long gone.
Published Article
AI generated designs on retail products
Every AI will have its own terms of use. DALL·E 2’s Terms of Use dated 3 November 2022 specify that as between a user and Open AI, a user owns their prompts and uploads. Open AI also assigns to the user all rights in any images generated by DALL·E 2 for that user (subject to the user complying with those Terms of Use, and to a licence to use inputs and output to develop and improve the services).
Published Article
Consumer duty part 2 - 'The drill-down' into the 'cross-cutting' rules
Opinion
Don't look down
An engineering company in Tyne and Wear was fined £20,000 after a worker fractured his pelvis and suffered internal injuries after falling through a petrol station forecourt canopy, whilst he was replacing the guttering.
Published Article
Luxury brands and sustainability – The challenges and solutions
Opinion
Rent arrears post-Covid: What are the landlord’s options?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, landlords and tenants have experienced significant limitations in the way rent arrears could be pursued. We first saw the moratorium on the recovery of Covid related arrears, and more recently we’ve experienced the implementation of the Covid arrears arbitration scheme.
Published Article
RAAC planks and its impact on local authorities
Recent reports of flat roofs constructed using RAAC planks collapsing without warning prompted the SCOSS alert.
Legal Update
W (No.3) GP (Nominee A ) Ltd and another v J D Sports Fashion Plc (Nottingham County Court, 22 October 2021)
The County Court refuses the landlord’s request to include a turnover rent in a statutory lease renewal.
Opinion
Covid-19 rent arrears – the questions that remain
The Government appears set to announce plans on ‘living with Covid to restore freedom’. With the success of the retail and hospitality sector key to recovery, what protections will be on offer to tenants to deal with Covid-19 rent arrears?
Legal Update
Macey v Pizza Express (Restaurants) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2847 (Ch)
A landlord did not demonstrate the requisite intention required to oppose a statutory lease renewal underground (g).
Legal Update
Stonecrest Marble Ltd v Shepherds Bush Housing Association Ltd [2021] EWHC 2621 (Ch)
Where a lease provides a comprehensive scheme of repair and insurance, the court will not imply terms to cover any gaps in that scheme.
Legal Update
Presenting a winding up petition to recover pandemic rent arrears
The government has now published new regulations to replace the winding up restrictions mentioned above from 1 October 2021. The key point of interest from a landlord and tenant perspective is that these new regulations will prevent a landlord from presenting a winding up petition to recover rent until 31 March 2022 where the sums are unpaid by the tenant because of the financial effect of the pandemic.
Legal Update
The government’s plans for dealing with Covid-19 rent arrears – some more details emerge
Last week, the government published a policy statement to deal with rent arrears accrued during the pandemic for those businesses affected by the pandemic.
Published Article
Correcting a mistake in an retail prices index rent review clause (Monosolar IQ Ltd v Woden Park Ltd)
A court will not alter an unambiguous contractual term merely because it is unduly favourable to one party, imprudent or unreasonable or because it provides for one party to pay too high a price for something. However, a court can correct the literal meaning of a contractual provision by construction if it is clear both that a mistake has been made and what the provision was intended to say.
Opinion
Handing back an empty shell of a building did not prevent a tenant from exercising a break clause
Break rights have proved a fertile source of litigation over the last few years. More often than not, tenants have found themselves on the wrong end of the decisions. However, a Court of Appeal decision yesterday has bucked that trend.
Legal Update
Restrictions on landlords’ remedies extended again and extra protection to be given to certain businesses
The delay in the full easing of lockdown restrictions and the knock on effect for certain tenants (particularly those in the hospitality and entertainment industry) has clearly caused a change of heart and the government has now announced a further extension of the restrictions.
Opinion
Relief for landlords as the Court of Appeal confirms that leases have been validly contracted out
One of the requirements for tenants to contract out of the security of tenure regime contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is that they make a simple or statutory declaration before entering into the lease.
Opinion
Summary judgment stayed where part 26A restructuring plan pending
Landlords should reconsider summary judgment if a Part 26A restructuring plan is pending.
Opinion
Landlords’ claims for summary judgment for ‘Covid’ rent arrears succeed (again)
A landlord’s claim for summary judgment to recover rent and service charge arrears accrued since the start of the pandemic against a non-essential retailer succeeded. Like London buses, a second such case has followed hot on its heels.
Opinion
The High Court offers no comfort for beleaguered retailers
Whilst this decision may not be surprising, it will undoubtedly send a chill down the spine of retailers in a similar position to The Fragrance Shop.
Legal Update
Commercial rents and Covid-19: Call for evidence
The government announced that it would be launching a call for evidence to help monitor the overall progress of negotiations between landlords and tenants for paying or writing off outstanding rents. This call for evidence has now been published.
Legal Update
Tenant protections extended again
The government was extending to 31 March 2021 the various tenant protections it has brought in since the pandemic began. However, that announcement of course pre-dated the current lockdown and it will come as a surprise to no-one that, despite this, the protections have been extended again until 30 June 2021.
Legal Update
Break notices for commercial tenants – beware of the common pitfalls
Due to numerous recent issues affecting the property market more and more break notices are being served by commercial tenants. At the same time, more and more tenants are seeking break rights in their new leases in order to provide them with flexibility when it comes to their real estate.
Opinion
Service charges – the bad news keeps coming for tenants!
A few months ago, we discussed a case where the Court of Appeal ruled that the wording of a lease precluded the tenant from arguing that certain costs should not have been included in the service charge calculation. A recent high-profile case concerns a broadly similar issue, this time in relation to the proportion of the landlord’s costs payable by a tenant.
Legal Update
Sara & Hossein Asset Holding Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 1521
A landlord’s service charge certificate was conclusive as to the sums payable by a tenant under a lease.
Legal Update
Tenant protections extended (yet) again
The government was extending to 31 December 2020 the various tenant protections it has brought in since the pandemic began. Perhaps not surprisingly, those protections have now been extended again until 31 March 2021.
Opinion
A landlord’s service charge certificate was conclusive as to the sums payable by a tenant under a lease
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the wording of a service charge clause precluded a tenant from challenging the sums claimed by a landlord.
Opinion
Handing back an empty shell of a building did not fulfil a vacant possession break condition
Break rights have proved a fertile source of litigation over the last few years. Courts have consistently required strict compliance with the terms of those rights.
Legal Update
Update on tenant protections
We reported that the Government was extending to 30 September 2020 the various tenant protections it has brought in since the pandemic began. Perhaps not surprisingly, those protections have now been extended again until 31 December 2020.
Legal Update
Government extends tenant protections and introduces new code of practice
On 19 June 2020, the Government announced that it was extending the various tenant protections it has brought in over the last few months and, at the same time, published a new voluntary code of practice to provide clarity for businesses when discussing rental payments and to encourage best practice so that all parties are supported.
Legal Update
A landlord’s remedies to recover arrears of rent – where are we now?
The Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill provides detail on the new measures to safeguard the high street against aggressive debt recovery actions during coronavirus.
Opinion
Retail ATMs and business rates: clarity at last!
Judgement has been handed down for the seminal case of Cardtronics UK Ltd and others (Respondents) v Sykes and others (Valuation Officers) (Appellants) [2020] UKSC 21.
Legal Update
New measures announced to protect the High Street from aggressive rent collection and closure
In a move that will be greatly welcomed by retailers, the Government announced on 23 April that it will introduce new measures to safeguard the High Street against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Legal Update
Getting through lockdown – your real estate questions answered
Find out more about the confusion around the Government’s support measures for business tenants and what to do if you have a break right during lock down.
Legal Update
Impact of Coronavirus for retail tenants – some basic questions and answers
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 23 March that all shops selling non-essential goods must close. Will we be breaking the terms of our lease?
Opinion
Retail woes extending beyond the property sector and into financial markets
Some commentators had anticipated that persisting retail sector challenges might disrupt more than the make-up of the high street or commercial property negotiations between landlords and tenants.