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Real estate · Real estate fee-earner, tenant-side in-house counsel

Check a rent review notice and its basis

A tenant has received a rent review notice proposing a figure forty per cent above the passing rent. The review checks whether the notice is valid, whether time is of the essence, and what the lease's own assumptions and disregards do to the valuation.

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Agents
Research, Contract
First draft
A validity answer in chat within a minute, then a full memo on the review basis the same day.

The problem

Rent review turns on drafting that nobody reads until a number arrives. An assumption that the premises are fitted out, a disregard of the tenant's own improvements that was drafted too narrowly, or a hypothetical term length that differs from the residue can each move the rent more than the market does. The notice provisions decide whether any of it matters yet.

  1. Step 01 of 05

    Add the lease and the notice

    The lease, any deeds of variation, the notice and the tenant's schedule of works go on one matter with the review date recorded.

    Matters · Project Halcyon · SPA warranties and disclosureOpen

    Project Halcyon: SPA warranties and disclosure

    Buy-side warranty review, disclosure analysis and cited due-diligence grid.

    Client
    Halcyon Bidco Ltd
    Reference
    WC-2026-0412
    Practice area
    Corporate / M&A
    Jurisdiction
    England and Wales
    Responsible partner
    E. Vance
    No conflict check on file.

    Chat, on this matter

    Compare warranties with the disclosure letter.

    Three high-priority exceptions require action: the unregistered charge, the change-of-control right and the tribunal claim.

    Send a message… (@ to mention tools)BalancedPrepare for
    1. 25 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Chat

    2. 21 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Run · completed · 560 credits

    3. 18 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Disclosure Letter

      Document · indexed

    4. 16 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Share Purchase Agreement

      Document · indexed

    5. 4 Aug

      Matter opened

      Opened

  2. Step 02 of 05

    Ask about validity first

    Whether the notice complies with the lease, whether time is of the essence for the tenant's counter-notice, and what happens if the tenant does nothing.

    Matters · 14 Rowan Court, Flat 9 · ResearchSources ranked
    Matter: 14 Rowan CourtEngland and WalesResearch Agent
     
    Prepare for: Court-Ready · Deliver as: Word

    Where we looked

    • 1Your documentsLease, demand, correspondence
    • 2Primary law3 statutes, 1 judgment
    • 3Regulators and the recordNothing needed
    • 4Web searchOff for this question

    Authorities · 4

    • 1

      Law of Property Act 1925, s 146

      c 20
      not yet checked
    • 2

      Housing Act 1996, s 81

      c 52
      not yet checked
    • 3

      Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s 168

      c 15
      not yet checked
    • 4

      Escalus Properties Ltd v Robinson

      [1996] QB 231 (CA)
      not yet checked

  3. Step 03 of 05

    Run the valuation basis

    Prepare for: Work-Stream Memo. The agent sets out each assumption and each disregard, quoted from the lease, and explains what it does to the hypothetical letting.

    Agents · Contract Agent · New runMatter: Northgate · senior associate hire

    Agent

    Jurisdiction

    Prepare for

    Deliver as

    Instruction

    What should the agent look for?

    Documents

    Drop a contract, or pick one from the matter

    Also on the matter

    • Offer_letter_v3.pdf2 pages
    • Staff_handbook_2025.docx61 pages
    • Board_minute_14_Aug.pdf3 pages
    Platform model · zero data retention · audit register on

  4. Step 04 of 05

    Find the improvements point

    The disregard of tenant improvements is drafted by reference to works carried out with landlord's consent, and two of the tenant's four projects have no recorded licence.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted
    6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we looked

    Senior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review

    Summary

    1. 1.

      Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh

      The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.

      Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32
    2. 2.

      Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh

      Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.

      UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9
    3. 3.

      Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh

      The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.

      Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A

  5. Step 05 of 05

    Take the next steps

    Action items cover serving a counter-notice, instructing a valuer with the memo attached, and finding the licences for the two unrecorded projects.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted

    • Replace the UK/Ireland/EU non-compete with a 3 to 6 month restriction tied to competing corporate-law work.

    • Replace blanket data consent with a lawful-basis clause and a separate monitoring notice.

    • Remove the five-day carry-over cap and reference the statutory carry-over rules.

    • Narrow the client non-solicit to clients dealt with in the final 12 months.

    • Add an explicit working-time opt-out withdrawal mechanism.

    • Confirm the bonus clause states the discretion is exercised in good faith.

What comes back

A document, not a transcript.

  • A validity conclusion on the notice, with the counter-notice deadline stated and the consequence of missing it.
  • Every assumption and disregard quoted from the lease with its effect on the hypothetical letting explained.
  • The improvements disregard applied to the tenant's actual works, showing which two projects are at risk.
  • Action items for the valuer instruction and for recovering the missing licences to alter.

Authorities it checks

  • Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, ss 24 to 30
  • Arnold v Britton [2015] UKSC 36
Every source it may cite

What it does not do

  • It does not value the premises. The rental figure is a valuer's opinion and the memo is written to instruct one.
  • It does not serve the counter-notice, and the date it identifies has to be diarised by a person.
  • It cannot confirm a licence to alter exists if the document is not on the matter.

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