Most licensed property Leases and Tenancy Agreements detail that if a landlord and a tenant cannot agree on a new rent this must be referred either to Arbitration or to an Independent Expert. Both processes work relatively well in the wider commercial world but each are time consuming, ideally require specialist knowledge to commit to them and are expensive. It was feared that tenants were often agreeing the rentals set before them by their landlords simply because they couldn’t financially afford to do otherwise.

The position concerning Tenancy or Lease renewals was similarly difficult. If the parties could not agree the new rent, the matter was referred to the Courts. Again, time consuming and expensive.

Recognising these anomalies, a framework was agreed in 2008 within the industry for a new organisation, the
Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme (PIRRS)
to provide a low cost equitable method of resolving rental issues.

The rent is decided by a PIRRS panel Independent Expert who possesses the requisite level of skill, experience and expertise. The choice of expert is selected by the tenant from the PIRRS Independent Expert panel. The tenant’s selection of Independent Expert will be considered to be final, subject to a conflict of interest declaration by the expert.

The cost to the tenant is between £1,650 and £3,000 plus VAT as far as the work of the PIRRS Independent Expert is concerned, plus an administration fee of £125 plus VAT. 

PIRRS has become well established and now comes under the governance of the PGB (the Pub Governing Body).