Fleurets and Coffer Corporate Leisure are teaming up to help pubco licensees buy the freehold of their pub.
Fleurets has piloted the scheme with Pubfolio, which selected 50 leasehold sites they would be prepared to sell to licensees already in situ. Potential leaseholders must have a substantive lease agreement of at least
10 years.
Leaseholders already own the goodwill and the fixtures and fittings, so have already made a significant investment in the site. The bricks-and-mortar value of the pub will also make it easier to obtain finance.
The two property agents have approached the major pubcos and finance is to be provided by brokers Acorn Finance, and could be up
to 100%.
Admiral Tavern's recent exit from the property market has boosted the chances of individual tenants being able to buy their own pubs from pubcos.
Pubcos are normally reluctant to sell to tenants because selling sites to individuals is a lengthier and costlier process than disposing of large batches to another group.
Paul Thompson, of Acorn Finance, said: "It gives the owners of pubs that Admiral would have been buying, from the likes of Punch and Enterprise, the ideal opportunity to buy the pub themselves."
Divisional director of Fleurets London pub agency Cameron Campbell said: "The rent, barrelage and machine income are added together and this makes up, more or less, the mortgage repayment. In the current market, with finance hard to obtain, this could be a good way to go.
"It does, however, all hinge on whether the pubcos want to play ball."