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 that upon review, the rent can either stay the
