At Graham + Sibbald our clients trust us to deliver. We have long-term partnerships with many leading companies, organisations and public sector bodies, all of whom rely on our ability to add real value and deliver fast, professional services and consistently reliable results.
We understand the challenges that businesses face and we work to ensure that our services deliver the speed, insight, added value and outcomes they need.
Approach
Early engagement with the Landlord and prospective new Tenants were the first steps from our Aberdeen Agency team, with negotiation of Tripartite Heads of Terms following shortly thereafter.
Commercial surrender terms were agreed between the existing Tenant and the Landlord, which enabled the Landlord to enter into a new Licence agreement with the new Tenant easily and within a timely manner.
The Building Surveying team addressed the Terminal dilapidations liability of our client with the Landlord, and the Property Management team resolved various outstanding issues in relation to the property in advance of the new Tenant taking entry. The Rating team addressed and quantified the rates liability on our clients’ behalf.
Key Challenges
Short unexpired lease terms can be problematic to market and the strategy adopted was to offer the property on a new lease with the involvement of the Landlord.
The additional challenge faced was the poor industrial market in Aberdeen, with unprecedented levels of supply and exceptionally low demand. This has been primarily due to the continued downturn in the Oil + Gas sector.
Results
A new Licence agreement was entered into between the Landlord, a private Property Company, and the new Tenant, Network Rail/ATKINS.
This resulted in an early termination of the existing lease over one year in advance of the natural expiry date and, consequently, a significant saving in rent and rates was achieved for our client.
Key Message
Multiple service lines of G+S were involved creating a “one-stop-shop” for the client, with a successful early exit to their lease and associated rent and rates savings. Despite the complexities of the marketplace and the multiple parties involved the timeline was maintained and a satisfactory outcome was achieved on behalf of all parties.
