irritancy
In today’s current financial climate, many landlords will look to make use of the special remedy of irritancy (in England called forfeiture) contained in most commercial leases. Irritancy is a landlord’s most powerful weapon against a tenant who fails to pay rent on time or is in breach of other terms of the lease. By first serving a formal notice on a tenant, a landlord will have the ability to bring the lease to an early end in as little as fourteen days’ time.
Tenants need to be alert to this powerful weapon of the landlord and should act promptly on receiving a landlord’s notice threatening to irritate the lease.
Where tenants are in financial difficulties, it makes sense for tenants to speak to their landlords at an early stage to explore the possibilities of making changes to either the amount of rent being paid or the intervals at which the rent is to be paid. For example, during the worst of the recession in 2009, many commercial landlords allowed tenants to vary rent payments from quarter payments to monthly payments. Where tenants are in very serious financial difficulties, they should think of discussing surrender of a lease (many landlords may be willing to agree to this, rather than to be stuck with an insolvent tenant). There are further cost-saving measures which tenants should contact their commercial property solicitor to discuss.