ASSET MANAGEMENT

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Possession1

‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law’

Securing vacant possession without disturbing a prominent city centre redevelopment programme

Our client, the landlord of a prominent city centre building, has planning permission to redevelop the building to create a new restaurant and office scheme in a prime core Manchester location. 

Two protected leases

The ground floor of the building was occupied by two retail tenants whose leases were protected by the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954.  This raised obvious concerns for the landlord.  Metis was asked to secure vacant possession of the two retail units in a timely manner so as to not disturb the development programme while also keeping the costs of securing possession to a minimum. 

Both leases surrendered out of court

Metis advised on the service of the relevant notices to terminate the leases and subsequently successfully negotiated a surrender of the two leases with the tenant’s representatives ahead of the dates set out in the notices without needing to involve the Court process. 

Costs kept to a minimum

The practical and pragmatic approach of our team has kept costs to a minimum and meant that the development programme has not been fettered. The Metis Leisure agency team is now working with the owners to secure pre-lets for the new restaurant accommodation to be created.