High Court decision in the Bewleys case overturned

High Court decision in the Bewleys case overturned. Supreme Court unanimously finds that the upward only rent review provision in the lease stands.

The decision means Bewley’s must continue to pay the €1.46 million rent up to 2017 and the cafe company said today it was “immensely disappointed” with the outcome.

Bewley’s had claimed its lease allows rents to fall as well as fluctuate upwards while Ickendel claimed the terms meant rents cannot fall. The High Court heard various reports indicated commercial retail rents have fallen by over 50% while a 2013 judgement in the Circuit Court fixed a new rent on a Grafton street property at just 53% of the previous rent.

The court was concerned with construing rent review provisions in a commercial lease which are articulated in conventional terms, she said. If Ickendel was correct, the rent payable was €1.46 million but if Bewley’s was correct, it was some €728,187.

Sourced from the Irish Times