Lifeline for Businesses

Business tenants are being offered help by their Landlord in the world’s first Garden City, as the credit crunch and impending recession in the UK and beyond, bites.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – by far and away the largest Landlord in Letchworth Garden City, with a total portfolio of 476 business premises in the town, of which 128 are retail units – has reviewed its policies in respect of payments by tenants and suppliers and has agreed the following:

• Its small business tenants, i.e. those with a taxable turnover, excluding VAT, of £150,000 or less – will now be able to change their leases from quarterly to monthly payments, which will help cash flow.
• Tenants will be charged a nominal 0.5% on their rent for this service
• This concession will be for a maximum of two years and will then be reviewed
• The Foundation will also allow bigger businesses to change their Leases from quarterly to monthly payments.
• These will be charged an extra 1% for the service
• Again, this agreement will be reviewed after two years
• As a purchaser of good and services, the Foundation will consider sympathetically requests from small business suppliers, as defined above, to pay their invoices in advance of the due date. Again, this should help cash flow.

Announcing these measures at a meeting of the Westminster Club in Letchworth Hall on Friday, Dec 5, Stuart Kenny, the Heritage Foundation’s Director General, (pictured), said: "While the Foundation as a Charity, has to ensure that it secures 'best value' in respect of commercial dealings, I believe there is a potential for us to help local businesses through what looks like a difficult time ahead, by adjusting our approach regarding payments from tenants and payments to suppliers."