circumstances on a case by case basis and consult Network Rail to seek to achieve appropriate positive outcomes in these circumstances. We will outline relevant headlease terms in the revised Handbook • We are proud to be the UK’s largest small business landlord and commit to preserving a community of diverse businesses in our portfolio. • We will report annually on usage of the estate, including on levels of occupancy, numbers of tenants and usage by different types of tenants. • The first re port will be in 12 months’ time . We will consult with tenants, Guardians of the Arches and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) as to the exact format of the report. RICS Global and Professional and Ethical Standards • We fully support the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Global and Professional and Ethical Standards. All of our Asset Managers are either RICS qualified or working towards it and therefore adhere to this code of conduct. • We are committed to fairness and transparency in the management and administration of service charges and have set ourselves the goal of being fully compliant with the RICS Service Charges in Commercial Property Professional Statement by 2020.
Security of Tenure
• Security of Tenure gives tenants the right, in most circumstances, to stay in their premises when their lease ends. A lease granted under the 1954 Landlord and Tenant Act carries this right. • In today’s property market leases are sometimes granted with this right under the 1954 Act, but sometimes landlord and tenant agree to exclude Security of Tenure from the terms of the lease. Both types of letting are legitimate and are common market practice. • Those existing tenants of The Arch Company that have Security of Tenure will continue to be protected by the 1954 Act renewal rights, and we fully respect tenants ’ existing rights. • Unless the relevant new lease being granted is to replace an expired tenancy with Security of tenure, one of the conditions of our purchase of the estate from Network Rail was that any new leases we issue should exclude Security of Tenure. This requirement is to provide appropriate availability of access and recovery for any necessary railway works. • We will ensure that the following wording is included in correspondence relating to any transaction which would result in a tenant moving from a lease with security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 to a lease without security of tenure; ‘This transaction may affect the security of tenure of your occupation and we recommend that you seek professional advice. ’
Credit Control
• We endeavour to work closely with our tenants and they too have a responsibility to ensure they respond to our requests in a timely manner, including paying their rent on time. • We will have a clear process to proactively and constructively engage with tenants if they are in payment arrears. Bailiff action will only be undertaken if this full process has not succeeded. The process will be outlined in our revised Handbook. • We have put in place a new system to formally track all credit control correspondence with tenants, providing an audit trail for all communication.
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