That Retail Property Guy

Knowledge & experience are critical factors for any bricks & mortar retail tenant.  In Estate Management, this supports huge budgets in occupation costs, and compliance, and statutory reporting, and business continuity, and profit protection.  Host Gary Marshall discusses the transfer, and the retention, of relevant knowledge, from the individual Subject Matter Expert to the documented SOP...

Leases for land & property often contain Quarterly payment Due Dates, historically based on religious festival dates.  But many businesses run monthly financial calendars, which don’t align.  Host Gary Marshall discusses whether Quarterly Due Dates still have a place in leasehold estates, whether monthly billing is the best all-round compromise, suiting both tenant and landlord, smoothing cash...

Accounts Recoverable for Retailers with leases !     Host Gary Marshall highlights the important overlap in responsibility between Property Accounts and Estates teams, ensuring that the Landlord’s agent doesn’t lose or misallocate the retailer’s payments for lease charges.  He emphasises the incredibly common occurrence of managing agents misbilling, misallocating or rejecting funds, or building s...

Host Gary Marshall explores the intrinsic characteristics of a good Head of Estates in a retail environment.    He underscores the necessity to understand Finance requirements like IFRS as much as Landlord & Tenant legislation, with the competence and experience to mentor & guide the Property Accounts function even if this team sits within Finance, to support and coordinate with controls a...

Host Gary Marshall discusses some common odd-ball scenarios which baffle or confuse retail accounts teams which handle property lease-liabilities.  He argues against the presumption that it is just ‘invoice comes in, invoice gets processed, payment goes out’.   The ancient common law principle that rent is due whether formally demanded or not, confusion about ‘applications for payment’ and incorre...

Interim Rents can be a complex minefield in long drawn-out lease renewals under the 1954 Landlord & Tenant Act, when there is a curious no-man’s-land of 'no lease' between the old lease and the new lease.     Host Gary Marshall discusses some of the main points in a topic which many tenants overlook at lease expiry, inadvertently leaving money on the Landlord’s table - whether they r...

Upward only rent reviews – in reality, not about always upwards but about never downwards.    Host Gary Marshall considers the impact of new UK legislation which bans upward only (never downwards) review clauses in new commercial leases – will it have the intended effect to liberate the high street, or will it trigger unexpected consequences such as the destabilization of the property investment m...

Host Gary Marshall considers retailers' trading hours, and whether their leases should contain any clauses which define specific trading hours, or restricted hours, leading to additional costs for flexing, or litigation costs for non-compliance.   He asks whether keep open clauses should be mandated in a lease contract, and if changing circumstances and shopping patterns render such historic...

When a retailer goes into Administration, what does the Administrator actually do? Host Gary Marshall discusses this from a Property perspective, looking at the rights and obligations of the various players – the landlords, the suppliers, the Administrator’s team. He discusses Insolvency Rules which take precedence over contractual leases, where Landlords become Unsecured creditors facing losses o...

Save the High Street?   Why? Where? How?     What’s your view?    Host Gary Marshall discusses the plight of town centre retail, and considers the popular cry to Save the High Street.   He questions whether this is a nostalgic, rose-tinted recollection of bygone days, or a sincere movement to re-take our towns, and build vibrant communities. He asks whether out of town retail is partly to blame fo...

In this episode, host Gary Marshall shares some anecdotes about managing agents, from the perspective of a retailer as tenant & occupier. A recurring theme is : do these agents actually read the Lease? He alludes to numerous examples of agents issuing incorrect invoices, using incorrect data, chasing payments that are not yet due, inappropriately threatening debt recovery, and failing to under...

In this episode, host Gary Marshall discusses the relationship of managing agent to the tenant, and to the landlord.    A recurring theme is : do these agents actually read the Lease? He clarifies that the term ‘managing agent’ can include surveyors, accountants, credit controllers, cashiers, client accountants and administrators, all acting as hired-help to a landlord in collecting charges due fr...

Retailers with Leases often forget to claim under their building or contents insurance – they absorb losses and pay for repairs which they already paid to insure against!     Building Insurance might be organized by the Landlord but paid for by the tenant, who might then confuse their repairing obligations with claimable circumstances – and that can mean money down the drain.  But making a claim c...

Retailers with leases need data which spans multiple competencies – estate management, accounts payable, finance control & reporting, maintenance & compliance, utilities management, store performance.  Host Gary Marshall points out that it’s rare to find a single person in any retail business who can cover all those bases – but suggests that well-defined teamwork can make the dreamwork.  P...

Host Gary Marshall discusses whether leases on non-profitable retail locations can be handed back to the landlord – or what other options are open to the retailer?   He highlights common alienation provisions in commercial leases, with conditions which might allow or restrict an assignment of the whole lease, or a subletting of part, possibly on a different rent or other varied terms.  He mentions...

Free Money? In this episode, host Gary Marshall highlights key areas of PROFIT PROTECTION where Retail Tenants risk leaving money on the landlords table, not on their own bottom line.       Uncollected completion funds, unresolved arrears, poorly investigated account balances – and misplaced faith that landlords and their managing agents’ accounts are correct.      Extra attention in these propert...

In this discussion on the reach of AI into the retailer’s world of estate management and property accounts payable, host Gary Marshall asks what functions could be helped by AI?  Will it replace traditional estates / finance databases, or back-office teams?  Can it drive greater efficiency than its human counterparts?  Is there anything it couldn’t do – like negotiate a rent review? Send us a Comm...

Host Gary Marshall discusses aspects of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) as a means of Profit Protection and Compliance.  He highlights the need for well-documented process bibles which explain How to Do the function, but critically also explain WHY each step is necessary.  He emphasises that the WHY is fundamental, to allow evolution without compromising the basic requirements for other stake...

Host Gary Marshall discusses extreme wintry weather, and its impact on bricks & mortar retail, through reduced footfall, and additional costs such as heating, or repair, or losses due to storm damage.  He highlights the challenges of maintaining comfortable working temperatures for store personnel while acknowledging the discomfort for customers transitioning from low external temperatures.  H...

Host Gary Marshall discusses the growing need for estate-management databases by retail tenants with leases, aligning leased-property data with finance function.   He highlights how recent changes in accounting standards such as IFRS 16 and FRS 102 have driven the need for supportive software to hold relevant lease data, and to handle complex Discount Cash Flow calculations for Balance Sheet repor...

In this episode, host Gary Marshall discusses Business Rates and Pubs, particularly a recent U-Turn by the UK Government as it seeks to mollify Publicans who were outspoken about rates increases on their businesses. Gary highlights the new discount being offered to pubs and live music venues, but not to any other business such as retail. He considers the example that this presents – pubs as a spec...

Host Gary Marshall welcomes Listeners to another series of That Retail Property Guy.   Series 1 closed on a cliffhanger of upcoming FRS 102 accounting changes.   Series 2 opens by checking back in on that – what consequences or observations have become apparent since it went live on 1st Jan?       Gary reminds Listeners that changes to FRS 102 mean that the Balance Sheet must now recognize right-o...

New FRS 102 Accounting rules introduce changes to how lease liabilities are reported in a business' annual accounts. This episode considers the impact of lease length in those calculations, where breaks, options to extend, reversionary renewals and Minutes of Variation might have a substantial impact but protected renewals under the 1954 L&T Act might not.   Send us a Comment, a View, a T...

Newly amended UK domestic accounting standard FRS 102 kicks in 1st January 2026. This episode compares the old & new rules for recognizing lease incentives such as rent free or landlord’s contributions. Tune in to gain valuable insights, and ensure your business is prepared. 00:00 Introduction to FRS 102 and Podcast Overview 00:49 Understanding FRS 102: Basics and Implications 01:34 Lease Obli...

Preparing for FRS 102:  Discount Rates when calculating Lease Liabilities This episode is part of a mini-series focusing on the challenges faced by retailers as tenants, for the upcoming mandatory changes to domestic accounting standard, FRS 102, set to take effect on January 1, 2026.  Host Gary Marshall explains the complexities of discounted cash flow calculations, and the importance of choosing...