Landlords seeking backdated rent review increases should take note of a recent High Court ruling to avoid uncertainty over who is liable to pay.
Two rent reviews were deferred for six and five years respectively until 2001. The current tenant could not afford to pay the backdated uplift, so the landlord pursued the original tenant which, like all original tenants under leases granted before 1 January, 1996, was bound to perform the lease covenants up to lease expiry, regardless of whether or not it had assigned the lease in the meantime.
