We were appointed by NewRiver in respect of the lease renewals and rent reviews at their key NI shopping centre in Northern Ireland.

The client’s challenge

This was NewRivers’ first foray into the retail sector in Northern Ireland and whilst we had been retained by the previous landlord for some 25 years on the centre, NewRiver did their own review of the service and concluded that the thorough approach and sound advice could be trusted and retained LSH to continue providing a Lease Advisory service.

The LSH solution

We worked closely with their Retail Leasing colleagues over a period of 18 months to establish a clear picture of rental growth and then advised NewRiver how best to approach rolling that rental growth into a cycle of lease expiries that were due.

Results achieved

LSH Lease Advisory have, as at the end of 2018, completed the renewal of some 13 leases representing a substantial percentage of the overall rental income of the asset.

Further, we have provided timeous critical advice relating to the implementation of key rent reviews in the centre. This required very specific advice on rent review notice provisions in order to meet a time of the essence requirement.

The resultant negotiation on that specific rent review, saw a 68% increase in the rent for the landlord.