Challenge: This church-based café and resource centre in Farnborough Shopping Centre contacted me – luckily – 18 months before their lease renewal. Their turnover had fallen, their rent had become unaffordable, and they did not see how they could carry on.
Result: During a mentoring session with them, I teased out the fact that their drop in revenue had coincided with the departure from the Centre of some anchor tenants. I tutored them on the main commercial lease terms and introduced a range of negotiating techniques, which were new to them. This enabled them to argue that their new rent should reflect the Centre’s diminished ability to draw footfall. Consequently, their rent was substantially reduced.
