RICS report will tackle "misconceptions" around rents, says BBPA

The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has claimed the RICS report on pub rents will help resolve some "long-standing misunderstandings and misconceptions" around the issues.

The group said it also welcomed the report's view that the Fair Maintainable Trade (FMT) is the most reliable method available of setting rents.

RICS' report, released today, said a new code of practice for rent reviews will be set up and a new database of trading information will be compiled, with "greater transparency" needed in the industry.

The report also clarifies that if RICS' guidance is followed properly than a tied tenant should be no worse off than a free-of-tie tenant, which has been greeted with glee by Fair Pint.

But the BBPA's Martin Rawlings said the "benefits" of being tied should be taken into account in calculating rent.

"We look to the guidance to take into account all the factors that make such an assessment, which include the benefits that accrue from the tie including such factors as risk, support, capital investment and so forth that makes such a comparison feasible," he said.

Rawlings also dismissed the idea that the recent High Court Brooker case set a "benchmark".

"RICS does not and never has endorsed any particular split of the divisible balance," he said.

"The division has to depend on the nature of the particular pub and the details of the deal that is struck, which again is dependent on the degree and extent of the purchase obligations incurred."

The BBPA said much of what the report was suggesting is contained in an agreement it has reached with the BII and Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations over the future of the pubco model.