‘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.
