Following a long-running public consultation on the issue, Henry Smith, Crawley’s MP, joined with the North Sussex CAMRA branch last year to call on the Business Secretary, Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, to get on and bring forward meaningful new rules to ensure that tied pubs are given a fair deal by pub companies.
As such, Henry was today delighted to welcome a new statutory code which will give pub landlords running tied pubs new rights to help them get a fair deal from pub companies. The rules will be enforced by an independent adjudicator with the power to punish pub companies that break them.
Henry commented:
“Tied tenants have been a long standing concern of mine as they usually have to pay a higher price for beer from the beer company they rent from. This should of course have been balanced out by reduced rents or other benefits – but this has not always been the case, putting some tied pubs at a disadvantage.
“I’m delighted, therefore, that meaningful action is being taken to support tied pubs by giving landlords peace of mind they’ll be able to get a fair deal on their rent.
“Crawley’s neighbourhood and High Street pubs are an important part of our community, not just as a place for regulars to socialise but for the jobs they provide. Raising a pint in a Crawley pub helps our town – at least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!
“I’ll continue to go further in support of our local drinking-holes and, indeed, am calling in Parliament for the abolition of beer duty as I believe this would actually provide a cost saving for the taxpayer.”
The new rules will mean that:
- Landlords will be able to request a rent review from pub companies if it has been five years or more since the last one.
- Landlords will be given the right to review the information used by pub companies to justify any rent increase.
- Landlords tied to pub companies with 500 or more tied pubs will be able to request an additional rent assessment to show if they are worse off than pubs with no tie.
- Pubs will have the right to decide if they are tied for gaming machines as well.
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Notes
- The new code, which will be included in a small business bill, will give tied pubs new rights to help them get a fairer deal.
o Tenants will be able to request a rent review if they have not had one for five years.
o They will have the right to review the information pub companies have used to decide any increase in rent.
o There will be extra protections for tenants renting from large pub companies with 500 or more tied pubs. If the rent can’t be agreed then tenants will have the right to request a ‘parallel free-of-tie rent assessment’ which will see whether they are worse off than their free-of-tie counterparts.
o Tenants will be able to choose whether or not they want to be tied for gaming machines too.
(BIS press release, 3 June 2014, link).
- These will be enforced by a new independent adjudicator also able to help settle rent disputes. The adjudicator will provide redress where the code has been breached. It will also be able to investigate accusations of systemic breaches of the code – with the power to impose sanctions if the code has been breached (ibid.).