Government Plans to Ban Upward-Only Rent Reviews in Commercial Leases

The UK Government has announced plans for major reforms of the commercial property leasing market. On 10 July 2025, the Government revealed proposals to ban upward-only rent reviews (UORR) in all new commercial leases in England and Wales, as part of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.  The aim is to make the commercial property market fairer and more responsive to economic conditions in a bid to boost the high street.

UORR have been a standard in the commercial leases sector for decades. In essence, it allows the rent to rise in line with any market increase whilst preventing the rent for the duration of the lease from decreasing when the market suffers a dip. Critics of UORR would argue that this shields landlords whilst increasing financial pressure on small businesses.

This is not the first time a similar proposal has been introduced. Under the Conservative Government in 2021, The Commercial Rent (Prohibition of Upward‑Only Reviews) Bill was introduced but stalled and did not pass into legislation. This would have applied to all commercial leases, existing and new, whilst the latest proposal only seeks to make the changes for new leases moving forwards.

The plans have received a mixed reception with small businesses supportive, whilst the property market generally more sceptical of the proposals. On the face of the plans, it would even the playing field for both landlord and tenants and would allow the rents to reflect the current economic conditions possibly boosting the high street.

However, long commercial leases are more and more a thing of the past with a standard retail lease now usually 3-5 years without rent reviews rather than 10 to 20 years more common decades ago. This is especially true of local towns; areas which the government are targeting. Shorter term leases that have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 already allow the rent to rise or fall in line with the market upon renewal. The proposed changes are much more likely to affect trophy assets along with the industrial and office sectors. Landlords may be more selective with tenants, or hold out for outside the act leases which would give landlords greater negotiating power.

At this stage, the plans bring uncertainty to the market, but if the proposals go through, it remains to be seen how this would the impact the development and investment markets, possibly affecting yields especially outside prime areas.