Promoting Good Practice in Business Leases

On 28th March the new Code for Leasing Business Premises was launched by Yvette Cooper MP.

This Code has been the result of many hours of debate, discussion and, finally, consensus between bodies representing owners, occupiers, advisors and government.

The document is made up of three component parts:
1. Landlord Code (easy to read set of requirements for Landlords in granting leases)
2. Occupier Guide (easy to read guidelines to help occupiers obtain fairer deals)
3. Model Heads of Terms (aimed at making sure lease documentation reflects the negotiation).

It is crucial that this spreads out to every corner of the market and becomes part of every lease transaction - especially in small and medium sized businesses.

The Code can be downloaded in full from www.leasingbusinesspremises.co.uk and will be followed over the coming months by several additional documents aimed at helping the relationship between owner and occupier in all aspects of leases.

Watch this space!

Campaigning at Ratepayers' Cost

I received through the post a leaflet about recycling - this says what a good job the (Conservative) Council is doing and what a good job it will continue to do (assuming the electors vote them back in).

I have very little problem with the content of the document and support good housekeeping in waste management.

I do have a problem, however, when I am trying to contest a local seat as an independent candidate, with leaflets (funded by the residents) that coincide suspiciously with the launch of the election process for May 3rd!