Clearlet – Land Securities and Nabarro working together to modernise the retail sector

9 April 2010

When Land Securities wanted to introduce innovation and clarity into the letting process, Nabarro brought them the idea of Clearlet.

Clearlet had its genesis two years ago when Nabarro's Belinda Solomon came up with an idea for Land Securities' retail warehousing business. The idea gathered momentum and was introduced across the company's entire retail portfolio at the end of 2009, under the name of Clearlet.

Belinda's aim was to change the culture in the letting market. She wanted to help modernise and clarify the landlord and tenant relationship, reduce costs and speed up the commercial process. The first draft was 20 pages of plain English in place of the "legalease" prevalent in most leases. Land Securities' leases were already shorter than many in the market so Clearlet, although radical, was a natural step for them to take.

Clearlet contained many new ideas, encouraged also by Land Securities' Head of Legal, Clive Ashcroft, who was simultaneously holding "open and frank discussions" with some of their principal occupiers regarding improvements to the leasing process.

With some very creative teamwork between client and advisor, Clive describes the role play between himself and Belinda: "We never actually fell out as she played the tenant and I the landlord, but she certainly made me think long and hard about a great number of the clauses we landlords have cherished over the years – the result being more understanding of both negotiating positions."

Clearlet offers tenants:

Flexibility – monthly rents in return for turnover information.
Certainty – especially around the "deemed consent" clause, allowing change of use or sub-letting if Land Securities fails to respond within 15 days of a request.
Clarity – the old fashioned legal jargon was replaced with plain English.
Speed and lower legal costs – less negotation time and delay, resulting from the simplified documentation, with only key commercial points requiring negotiation.

Perhaps it has given Land Securities an edge in the current market and further differentiation as a landlord. Perhaps it heralds a wider change in leasing practice.

For further information, please contact John Cumpson or Belinda Solomon.