Most licensed property Leases and Tenancy Agreements detail that if a landlord and a tenant cannot agree at rent review time this must be referred either to Arbitration or to an Independent Expert.
Both processes work relatively well in the wider commercial world but each are time consuming, ideally require specialist knowledge to commit to them and are usually expensive. It was feared that tenants were often agreeing the rentals set before them by their landlords simply because they couldn’t financially afford to do otherwise.
The position concerning Tenancy or Lease renewals was similarly difficult. If the parties could not agree the new rent, the matter was referred to the Courts. Again time consuming and expensive.
Recognising these anomalies, following a series of BII rent review road shows across the country, a framework was agreed in 2008 within the industry for a new organisation, the Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme (PIRRS), to provide a low cost equitable method of resolving rental issues and for the BII to provide the administrative backup for this.
The rent is decided by a PIRRS panel Independent Expert who possesses the requisite level of skill, experience and expertise. The choice of Independent Expert is selected by the tenant from the PIRRS panel. The tenant’s selection of Independent Expert will be considered to be final subject to the potential appointee not declaring that this would result in their being placed in a conflict of interest situation (e.g. if they have represented one of the parties previously within, say, the last five years).
The cost to the tenant is between £1,650 and £3,000 plus VAT as far as the work of the PIRRS Independent Expert is concerned dependent on the size of the case and the location of the premises
PIRRS has become well established and now comes under the governance of the PGB (the Pub Governing Body), provided by six of the industry’s leading associations representing both tenants and landlords – British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association (FLVA), the Guild of Master Victuallers (GMV), The Licensee Association and UK Hospitality (UKH).
The PGB is chaired by James Anderson.
PIRRS is the trading name of Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme. A private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, Company No. 7162516,
Please click on the other pages of this website for further detail concerning PIRRS.