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With the shadow of Brexit firmly upon us and the implications of a deal/no deal on the overarching costs of manufacturing in the United Kingdom, a number of our clients are having to take a long hard long at their futures in the United Kingdom. Necessarily if you are manufacturing in the United Kingdom, you will have property here. It is not therefore as simple as simply making a decision to open or close a site in isolation. The overarching costs and consequences of opening or closing a site need to be factored into that decision-making process.

We’ve been working with some of our manufacturing clients to help them analyse their property portfolio (whether they be leasehold or freehold) in order to assess their various obligations in relation to each site whether that is a manufacturing facility, distribution, storage or head office location in order to understand what their liabilities currently are, what the options are for each site and their potential liabilities, including:

• Analysis of property portfolios (including an analysis of any lease terms)
• Supporting a review of short and long term property needs
• Advice on the use of Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 to control timing (including advice on rights to renew and terms likely to be secured)
• Analysis of exit opportunities
• Advice on possible disposal strategies and their various merits/risks
• Advice on repair, remediation and reinstatement responsibilities (including possible legal defences to any substantial obligations regarding reinstatement and repair).

This has helped our clients inform their internal decision-making process and begin to budget accordingly. If you are thinking about investing in, closing or moving any of your facilities, we recommend you start planning this as soon as possible and any of our dedicated real estate manufacturing specialists would be happy to talk to you about what that process might look like.

External URL: https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/uk/insights/comments/manufacturers-supporting-your-property-planning