The Pubs Code Regulations 2016 revealed (again!)

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Finally the delay is over and we have something to show you please download the pubs code regulation – the fees information expected later ………

Pubs Code Regulation 2016

Govt Consultation Response

Impact Assessment

If you need help interpretating the Pubs Code join the PAS and learn from tied trade experts and major contributors to the Pubs Code Simon Clarke – Chris Wright – David Mountford 

Our expert content will help tied tenants and lessees get the facts and the best deal possible from this exciting new change in legislation. If you rent or lease a pub the Pubs Advisory Service authoritative guidance and edge will help you. Join here

Unintended Consequences

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Beware the “unintended consequences”

Probably the most over-used couple of words trotted out in the pub’s trade these last few years.

Some people in the trade repeat this phrase like a stuck record (a default setting) clearly some people like the current set up as it is; perhaps it pays well, gives great benefits or a smooth ride so naturally resist any changes Government propose.

Mostly though i hear the old “UC’s” being used by those who clearly know a little and lets face it are generally supportive of the introduction of a fair tenanted model but fall short from looking any deeper despite professing to be an expert on either the pub or drinks trade. If they had bothered to look just a little deeper (scary i know!) they would have found out within 2 minutes of reading to their utter relief that the pubs code has a safety net, a sunset clause, a review stage if you like, infact the Groceries Code is undergoing one such review right now if you don’t believe me.

It goes like this, if Government get the pubs code wrong and it has a detrimental effect or doesn’t address the policy issues, or horror of horrors delivers too much fairness to tenants (!) then in 3 years time the pub’s code rules can be adjusted, modified or even extended, perhaps to include tenants of family brewers? It’s fairly clear that tenants of the smaller pubco’s and family brewers should continue to report issues of unfairness as silence is often wrongly attributed by Government to people being happy and that all is well.

So in simple terms for anyone tempted to use the old “UC’s” your fear of things going wrong is infact limited by the law. So you can wipe the sweat from your brows and sleep easy in your beds as people before you have done all the sweating for you.

MRO Day Arrives

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BRITISH PUB CONFEDERATION

Pubs Code start date and Market Rent Only Day #MRODay arrives but tenants denied their legal right due to BIS mistake

British Pubs ConfederationToday, 26th May 2016, is the day laid down in law for pub tenants of the large pubcos to finally have the right to protection and the all-important Market Rent Only option, in the Pubs Code, yet due to mistakes by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) they are being denied this.  Today’s date is laid down in the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 yet extraordinarily, despite having a year to get the Pubs Code right and in place, BIS have missed the date and hundreds of tenants have been left high and dry without the Code and Market Rent Only option they had been entitled to expect, as a new legal right coming in from today. 

This means the Government are in breach of the Act, which required the code be in place by 26 May.

The British Pub Confederation are calling on BIS to publish the code before the end of June, and calling on BIS to state when the code will come into force.

The Confederation has estimates that for every month the Code is delayed, 220 tenants will miss out on the chance to choose the Market Rent Only option.

BIS delayed the launch of the code after claiming it contained a drafting error, but the British Pub Confederation has since stated that there was no error in the code.

Commenting, Greg Mulholland MP, Chair of the British Pub Confederation, said:

“BIS missing this deadline is a disgrace, and means that every month over 200 tied tenants will miss out on their chance to choose the Market Rent Only option. These tenants rightly expected the code to come into force by 26 May, but because of BIS’s incompetence this will not happen.

“We now call on BIS make publishing the code a priority, and to tell tenants and pubcos when the code will be published.”

Simon Clarke, Fair Pint Campaigner and Secretary of the British Pub Confederation, said:

“What the delay has done is thrown many tenants with imminent rent reviews and renewals into turmoil. Rather than grasp a fantastic opportunity for positive PR, pub owning companies have refused to offer the MRO opportunity retrospectively to the 26 May. We advise any tenants who have not settled their rent review or lease renewal to put all negotiations on hold pending the Code implementation which may see grounds for retrospective claims and may still yet throw up opportunities for MRO to be considered.”

Dave Mountford, Pubs Advisory Service, said:

“This latest delay in a long line of errors by BIS shows the complete disregard the Department has shown for the pubs code and the industry in general. Throughout this process we have felt that the department have failed to understand the background to this issue and instead attempted to balance the necessary changes without impacting on the Pubco model.

“Unsurprisingly they have failed to achieve the will of parliament.”

ENDS

 

Note to tenants: with the Code delay we suggest you hold on any rent review/lease renewal negotiations.

The Code is in draft form and may be subject to further changes which could be effective and even be positive to tied tenants. An opportunity may present itself for retrospective opportunity to consider MRO provided no agreement has been concluded, regardless of the delay, either following direction from Government or guidance and interpretation of the Regs.

Our advice is to hold all negotiations pending the Code implementation regardless of the rent review/lease renewal date.

Notes to editors

For more information, contact info@britishpubconfederation.co.uk

Pubs Code Scotland – SLTA

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Pubs code for Scottish Tied Pubs

SaltirePubco reform campaigners (which includes the Pubs Advisory Service amoungst them) have urged the newly-elected Scottish Government to make a pubs code for Scotland a priority for the new parliament.

The previous Scottish Government had stated that it was monitoring the development of the Westminster pubs code, which will require pub companies in England and Wales with more than 500 outlets to offer their tenants a ‘market rent only’ option.
So far no similar legislation has been drafted in Scotland.
Scottish Licensed Trade Association chief executive Paul Waterson said the new Scottish Government should move forward with its own legislation.
“We certainly believe there should be an adjudication system set up here, which should be for any tenant that has a grievance,” he said.
“We’ve got to look at the pub code [in England] and we’ve got to do something up here quickly.
“It’s been held up because of the election, obviously, but we’ve got to try and move this forward as quickly as we can.”
Waterson was backed by Alan Hay, sales director, on-trade, at Tennent’s, who said “there is already a wealth of evidence that illustrates the need for action”.
“From the direct feedback tenants have given, to the money removed from Scotland’s economy through the tied model, there are a great many reasons why we should not drag our feet on the matter any further,” said Hay.
But Scottish Beer & Pub Association chief executive Brigid Simmonds stressed the difference between the two markets.
She said the “Scottish pubs market is markedly different from that in England with just 17% of pubs operating under a beer tie, compared with 40% in the UK as a whole”.
She added that a voluntary code of practice for pub companies “continues to safeguard tenants, protects investment in the sector, and ensures consumers continue to enjoy a great choice of beers”.
The calls come as the introduction of the Westminster legislation has been delayed.
It has been reported that the code, part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act, has had to be redrafted just days before it was due to come into force.