RICS responds to English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, introducing what many regard as the most significant change to commercial rent review provisions in decades and it’s one that will have an impact on RICS members working in this arena.

An upwards-only rent review (UORR) is a clause under which rent can increase, or stay the same (on review) and historically have been standard in commercial leases across virtually all sectors.  The removal of these (in England and Wales) represents a fundamental rebalancing of rights between landlords and their tenants following the trend of the UK Government to seek to tilt the balance more broadly towards tenants.

Through the development of the legislation, RICS worked closely with MHCLG to set out the concerns of our members, principally the risk that prohibiting UORRs could have second-order effects on other asset classes, and highlighting that lease structures have become shorter and more flexible in many cases and that the certainty of income which the previous regime offered underpinned investment in asset values (including pension funds).

In particular, RICS expressed concern that this move could undermine investment confidence in the commercial property market, with the attendant risk of deterring investment in high streets and town centres at a time when Government wanted to revitalise these areas.  Furthermore the downstream consequence for investment beneficiaries was, we felt, given insufficient weight.

It’s important to note that the ban is not yet law; the enabling legislation has been passed and it will be the secondary legislation that deals with the detail of the measure.

However, in there is an important retrospective element to the Act whereby if a renewal option or similar arrangement was entered into on or after 17 March 2026, the resulting renewal lease will be caught by the ban.

RICS will be engaging closely with government to ensure that any change is fair, proportionate, and guided by industry insight. RICS will continue to engage with policymakers, members and industry as the secondary legislation develops, with no implementation expected before 2027 at the earliest.

RICS members advising clients on lease structuring, valuation and investment appraisal strategy should consider reviewing existing assumptions now.  RICS will continue to engage with government ahead of the secondary legislation consultation and ensure that members’ voices shape this important area of commercial property policy.