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Rent review · Lease Management
THE PROBLEM
Most tenants negotiate a lease a handful of times. Landlords and their agents do it every week. So when the review notice lands, the landlord already controls the timing, the proposed figure, and the story behind it.
The cost of getting it wrong
When a proposed rent feels high, the easy path is to accept it and move on. The problem is what that number does after you sign. It becomes the base every future review builds on, and it quietly leaves your account every month for the rest of the term.
What a single $15,000 rent increase can cost over a 6-year term, before you add CPI, OPEX, or lost incentives:
How to challenge a review
A review is a negotiation, and the tenant who prepares holds more leverage than they expect. Four moves matter most.
A review is a negotiation, and the tenant who prepares holds more leverage than they expect. Four moves matter most.
The landlord’s proposed rent is a starting position. I benchmark it against what comparable premises actually achieve, so we argue from evidence rather than opinion.
Comparables get chosen selectively and assumptions get built in. A weak comparable or an overstated floor area can move the number materially once it’s challenged.
Rent is one line. Review frequency, ratchet clauses, OPEX, and incentives all shape what you really pay. We trade across the whole picture, not one figure.
Know your clause
Rent reviews come in a few forms, and each one behaves differently. The type in your lease decides how much room there is to push back.
Rent resets to what comparable premises achieve. The most negotiable, and the one where good evidence changes the outcome.
Rent rises by a set percentage each year. Predictable, but it compounds fast over a long term.
Rent moves with inflation between review dates. Less room to argue, but the calculation is still worth checking.
Rent linked to your sales, common in retail and hospitality. The detail of what counts as turnover matters.
Why it's worth 20 minutes
A rent review left unchallenged. An outgoings charge with no cap. A make-good obligation nobody costed at the start. Each one sits quietly in the lease, and the money leaves the business a little at a time, so no one ever flags it as a bad decision.
Left unchecked, a single rent review settled above market can quietly cost a tenant tens of thousands over the term. The checklist exists to catch it before it does.
Your guide
Agents act for landlords. Lawyers focus on the wording. I act for tenants only, and I run the review as a commercial negotiation from the first notice to the signed outcome. I’ve done this for tenants for 20 years, across retail, office and industrial, with particular strength in hospitality and F&B.
Proof
Four terms reset in the tenant’s favour on an inherited restaurant lease: a lower base rent, market rent reviews in place of automatic CPI rises, a clean exit route for the guarantors, and almost 12 more years of secure tenure.
“Marcus delivered impressive value to our business… he negated rent increases, managed lease renewals and renegotiated bank guarantee obligations.”
Penny Chapman
General Manager, Caci Clinics
Common questions
Yes. A proposed rent is a starting position, and most commercial leases set out a process for disputing it, often ending in an independent valuation or arbitration if the two sides can’t agree. The key is to act inside the timeframes your lease sets.
It depends on how your lease is drafted. In some leases a missed deadline weakens your position or lets the landlord’s figure stand. In others there’s more room. Read the clause as soon as a notice arrives, because timing usually decides how much leverage you have.
If a review goes to independent valuation or arbitration, your lease usually sets out how the cost is shared, often split between landlord and tenant. The wording varies, so it’s worth checking your specific lease before it gets to that point.
Your lease sets the timeframe, and it can be tight. As soon as a notice arrives, diarise every date in the clause. Missing one can cost you the right to challenge the figure at all.
No. A market review resets your rent to what comparable premises achieve, and it’s open to negotiation. A CPI review moves rent by an inflation index, with less room to argue, though the calculation is still worth checking.
Free Download
The Lease Health Check is the checklist I use to keep client leases on track: every review, renewal and notice date that decides whether your lease costs you more than it should.
Send me the review notice or your current rent, and I’ll tell you where you stand and what’s worth challenging. No pressure, and no obligation to go further.
Managing a rent review is part of the fourth stage of the lease life cycle, Lease Management.
