ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the issues involved in the rental valuation of commercial properties both for rent review purposes and also lease renewals. Where lease renewals are not capable of being agreed, the final arbiter is the county court or, in some cases, the High Court. Lease renewals in respect of commercial properties are essentially governed by Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and supplementing this there is a considerable body of case law which defines what a business tenancy. As a result joint initiative in 1997 by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Law Society instigated a service known as Professional Arbitration on Court Terms (PACT). The rent review clause will normally require the value to be determined by reference to such expressions as 'the open market value', 'the open market rental value' or the 'rack rental value' of the property.
