Case Studies

We negotiated an early surrender with the tenant for a premium, plus a £2.56m cash settlement in lieu of dilapidations. This combined total saw us return 80% of equity even before any sale had occurred.

Despite achieving permitted development approval and significant GDV projections, we were aware of potential issues and therefore opted to sell to developer to provide deal certainty and optimise higher IRR. We sold for £5.4m after only 3.5 years. Ultimately, the developer encountered challenges that caused a 5 year setback, further highlighting the benefit of our decision to sell pre-development.

• Negotiate a rent increase at the rent review.
• Inform them of our intention to sell which will naturally trigger a concern that a new landlord may not agree to alterations.
• Offer them a ‘first refusal’ on the purchase.

We successfully increased the rent by 23% at review and subsequently negotiated a sale of the property at significantly above market value, which gave them unfettered control of their needs. Sale price equated to 2.5 times the original purchase price over a 3-year hold.

Our intensive due diligence prior to purchase gave us sufficient comfort to believe Lloyd’s would not exercise their break option.

Indeed, the tenant did not exercise its break option and the asset ultimately sold for £6.35m, generating a 81% profit over 16 months.

After carrying out numerous asset management activities, we sold the asset after 3 years for £7.5m, whilst strategically retaining some land as part of the sale agreement.

After obtaining a pre-let agreement to a large national occupier, we subsequently developed the retained land into a large retail unit plus 12 residential units with 100% debt funding for construction costs.

We served an Interim Schedule of Dilapidations on the tenant to bring them to the table on our terms. As a result, the momentum shifted, with the tenant taking the surrender negotiations seriously.

We successfully negotiated a significant surrender payment and, ultimately, obtained vacant possession. Subsequently, we achieved a sale, at 55% above our pre-Covid valuation, at the height of Covid in addition to the significant surrender premium.

We strategised on a sale of the property but required vacant possession to do so. Logically the tenant should have demanded a reverse surrender payment from us to deliver VP. Despite this, we negotiated a surrender payment from them, amounting to all their lease obligations until lease expiry (2 years), plus a further sum in consideration of dilapidations.

Further to securing vacant possession, we sold the property at 20% above market value.

After several years, the tenant discontinued UK operations and stripped all the assets out of their UK corporate arm, leaving us with an effectively dormant tenant company. They then offered us a surrender premium of just £600k. Due to our weakened position, we were advised by a national agent to settle at £1.2m (2 years rent).

A combination of undertaking extensive due diligence on the tenant and nine months of intensive and strategic negotiations resulted in us successfully obtaining a £5.6m surrender premium.

The tenant sought a lease renewal on very flexible terms at £360k p.a. Our opinion was that the rent should be in the region of c.£470k, on more commercially acceptable terms. No agreement was reached and the tenant appointed a third party expert witness, expecting us to capitulate. We threatened to go to court, confident in our position.

Just before the court date we reached an out-of-court agreement with the tenant for a 15-year lease (break options every 5 years) at £465k p.a.

We undertook a feasibility study to ascertain the viability of extending their premises to accommodate the tenant’s expansion requirements. We then shared the Study with the tenant an the obvious advantages of remaining on site and they were very happy with the concept.

After obtaining 100% funding for construction work, we created a new, longer, overriding lease on the entire, enlarged premises (old and new), substantially increasing income and capital value.

We negotiated and obtained a significant surrender premium and dilapidations settlement.

The property was simultaneously let to a new tenant (Howden Joinery) on a new 15-year FRI lease. With the benefit of this new lease, we sold the asset at a significant profit.

• Acquired the adjacent land and converted it into a fully paved car park, financed with 50% government grant and 50% bank debt.
• Leased the car park back to the tenant on a co-terminous lease, achieving a double-digit yield on the c.£400k cost (no cash equity required).
• Achieved a 19% rent increase on main premises through strategic negotiations directly with the CEO.
• Towards the end of the lease, obtained a substantial surrender premium for an early exit.

We subsequently achieved an above market value sale of the asset by strategically approaching neighboring developers and making the case for the scaled benefits of adjoining the two plots to create a larger development.

We identified a very minor and technical breach in the tenant’s exercising of the break clause. Despite legal advice predicting slim chances of success, we pursued the issue and strategically offered a compromised settlement as an alternative to issuing court proceedings.

Ultimately, we achieved 65% of the remaining rent liability (until end of lease) and 100% of the dilapidations claim.

Our in-house surveyor undertook defending the claim, carried out extensive site investigations, reviewed photographic & video evidence and inventories, and negotiated a reduced dilapidations sum.

We negotiated a reduced dilapidation settlement of only £70k, a 65% reduction.

Utilizing relationships with the tenant’s top management and a strategic approach, we negotiated a rent increase despite the lack of material evidence and at the height of COVID.

We obtained a 15% increase at the rent review, during Covid, despite not having any justifiable evidence.

Despite the rent review not being imminent, our client instructed us to attempt to commence rent review negotiations.

Despite the fact that 18 months still remained on the lease, we negotiated a 10 year renewal (break option after 5) at an increased rent during the height of Covid, far exceeding our client’s expectations.