“Click and Collect” – A headache for turnover clauses? Committing to a retail lease is a risk for both the landlord and tenant. The landlord
April 2016
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needs to ensure that rent is set at the right level so that it adequately benefits from the tenant’s trade, but also that the rent is set at a level at which the tenant can profitably operate. For the tenant, entering into a lease constitutes a large financial commitment for a fixed number of years and with no guarantee of trade and profit. Vanessa Laundon
In recent years one way that landlords and tenants have sought to allocate risk in the landlord and tenant relationship is by way of a turnover rent lease. A turnover rent
Senior Associate Retail & Leisure T: +44 (0)20 3755 5562 E: vanessa.laundon@howardkennedy.com
lease usually involves the tenant paying a base rent at a certain percentage of open market value with a turnover “top up” which is paid in addition to the base rent where turnover exceeds the base rent. Turnover leases impose turnover reporting requirements on the tenant and in some cases, particularly in shopping centres, the landlord can require the tenant to link its tills (and therefore turnover information) direct to the landlord’s systems.
The continued growth of multi-channel retailing is posing challenges for traditionally drafted turnover clauses. Traditional clauses were drafted assuming that all sales upon which turnover is payable would be paid for in and completed in the store. As online shopping and in particular “click and collect” arrangements become increasingly popular with consumers the traditional model is being stretched. If the item is ordered and paid for outside of the store but then physically collected from the store can this truly be deemed to constitute turnover generated from the premises?
Needless to say Landlords will want to ensure that all proceeds of “click and collect” sales are included within sales for the purpose of calculating turnover so as to
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