Shops and commercial premises

Shops and commercial premises in tenements and blocks of flats need to follow the same rules as other types of owners.

Share of repairs

Shops may not always be responsible for repairs to the common close if they have no access to it. In this case, repairs to the close can be considered mutual, rather than common, repairs. This is similar to the situation of main door flats.

In older tenements, a shop's share of repairs may be set by Rateable Value (RV). This can mean that the shop owner is required to pay a much larger share of repair costs than other owners. This is often unrealistic for many shop owners as the turnover and value of their premises has dropped considerably since the 1980s, when Rateable Values were last updated.

Mutual repairs

Rateable Value

Full repairing leases

Many shops are rented on full repairing leases which require the shop keeper tenant, rather than the shop owner, to pay for all repairs. However, it is still the shop owner who is responsible for repairs, and it is up to owner to enforce the terms of the lease with their tenant. You should always aim to deal with the shop owner when carrying out common repairs.

Shop fronts

Shop fronts (and some of the internal spaces) are wide spaces and the walls above are generally supported by bressumer beams.  These beams are part of the building's structure and important to keep repaired. These beams may also be found above other parts of the shop where they support internal walls above.

More on bressumer beams