RICS pub rent code delayed till end of year
The valuation paper on setting pub rents won't be ready until the end of the year at the earliest, the Morning Advertiser has learned.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) had initially told the Government committee looking into pub companies that its guidance would be ready by Spring.
The pub specific guidance has been held up by the delayed publication of the RICS general guidance note that covers all trade properties, including pubs, hotels and even dry ski slopes.
The umbrella document, seen by the Morning Advertiser, makes no specific reference to pubs, although it does clarify the definition of a "reasonably efficient operator".
The pub rent valuation panel hopes to publish its final guidance soon. However, there are then a number of steps in the process before it is released.
Firstly, the guidance must be approved by the Trade Related Valuation Group — although this is seen as a formality, given that four members of the group sit on the pub rent valuation group.
Next the guidance is given to an Editorial Board, which checks the language of the document. Finally it is then subject to approval by the Professional Standards Board, which meets only twice a year.
The next meeting is scheduled for September, but if the valuation paper on pubs is not ready by this point, it could face a further six month wait.
If the code is passed by the Professional Standards Board in September, an Exposure Draft will be released to all interested parties including trade groups and MPs on the Business, Skills and Innovation Committee for consultation.
Feedback would then be considered by the panel and changes made accordingly, meaning the earliest the new guidance would be available is December.
But members of the panel are understood to be prioritising getting the guidance absolutely right rather than rushing it through in time for the Professional Standards Board meeting in September.
All new codes of practice, accredited by the BII, have to agree to abide by the new guidance on rent setting from RICS and some pubcos have been slow producing codes citing their unease at agreeing to abide by guidance they have not yet seen.
Pubco critics including licensee Simon Clarke and Surveyor David Morgan of Fair Pint, plus licensee and Association of Licensed Multiple Operators member Garry Mallen, all sit on the RICS panel looking at the rent valuation paper.
Others on the panel include Fleurets managing director Martin Willis and Rob May, Enterprise Inns national rent controller.
