Landlords keep dangling carrots
A GROWING number of retail landlords in the North West resorted to offering incentives in order to let their premises last quarter as demand continued to struggle, according to a new survey.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) latest UK Commercial Market Survey found that occupier demand fell over the past 12 months, with a net balance of 29% of respondents reporting increases in incentives being offered to potential tenants.
A net balance of 35% more surveyors also predicted a likely fall in rental values over the next three months.
Overall demand for commercial property remains subdued, with 9% more surveyors reporting a fall in demand from occupers, although the London office market continued to buck this trend.
Mike Redshaw, director at Bury-based Nolan Redshaw, said: “The market has now frozen again due to more bad news coming out of Europe.
“Both occupiers and investors have adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude and we do not expect the situation to change until the wider economic picture is clearer.”
The Institution has also introduced a free lease agreement document in a bid to help new and independent retailers into space.
The lease, which was developed by SNR Denton UK lawyer Nick Darby in conjunction with the British Retail Consortium, will allow smaller firms to take space more quickly at a time when national shop vacancy rates stand at 11.1%.
RICS North spokesman Jeff Pearey of Jones Lang LaSalle said: “Negotiating the complicated and sometimes costly process of acquiring your first property is one hurdle that this proposed lease effectively removes.
“As well as assisting individual retailers, this new lease will make it quicker and easier to get those empty units back into use.”
The eight-page document has a set of standard lease terms for up to five years with no rent review or break clause agreements. It is available on the RICS website.
