323-327 Station Road, Harrow (Nationwide & Bon Marche)
323-327 Station Road, Harrow (Nationwide & Bon Marche)
This was a rent review on the above property which comprises a double retail unit (which has since been divided into two separate shops) with first floor office space above and car parking to the rear. The whole building was let to Pricerite Ltd on 17th May 1968 for a term of 99 years with fourteen yearly rent reviews. The lease was assigned to Nationwide in 1972 and part of the ground floor and a small portion of the first floor was sublet to Bon Marche in February 2001.
The head lease permits subletting in parts and the rent reviews are ‘up and down’.
We were unable to agree a new rent with the tenant’s surveyor who proposed that the rent should be decreased to an unrealistic level, whilst we were proposing a rental increase. The matter was therefore referred to arbitration.
The new rent determined by the arbitrator represented a 19% increase on the passing rent set in 1996. This included a 5% deduction for quantum, a 17.5% deduction for the assumed term and a 7.5% addition for the long dated review pattern and the up and down nature of these reviews.