UKH calls upward-only rent review ban a ‘significant win’

UKHospitality has hailed a “significant win” after it was revealed that The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will include a commitment to ban upward-only rent review clauses in commercial leases.

UKHospitality has been calling for a ban on upward-only rent reviews since the turn of the century. Upward-only rent reviews are common in UK commercial leases and mean that rents can only stay the same or increase.

The previous Labour government committed to implementing a ban in the mid-2000s, before the proposal was derailed due to the financial crash. The Hospitality Sector Council has included the ban as a key ask to drive post-Covid recovery.

Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: “Unjust upward-only rent review clauses have been hitting hospitality businesses for years, making rents unnecessarily expensive. They have been punishing the high street and constraining investment, and it’s the right move for the Government to ban them completely.

“UKHospitality has been calling for a ban for decades and I’m very pleased that it is now being implemented. This ban, alongside business rates reform and efforts to simplify licensing, are critical to cutting costs and red tape for businesses, and allow hospitality to drive high street regeneration.”

She added: “It’s also positive that the Bill doesn’t include any future tourist tax in England. The Government made clear to us that it has no plans to introduce a tax and it was critical they followed through on that promise. We expect that commitment to remain throughout the passage of this legislation.

“The Government should now take this pragmatic approach at the Budget and introduce measures to lower business rates, fix NICs and cut VAT for hospitality. Our businesses are being taxed out and we need to see action at the Budget that allows hospitality to create places where people want to live, work and invest.”