Landlord British Land challenges Monsoon Accessorize rent cuts

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 6, 2019

Monsoon Accessorize may have faced less opposition to its restructuring plans than some retailers so far, but the situation seems to have changed with news that shopping centre landlord British Land is trying to block its plans.

British Land’s move comes as more and more landlords are pushing back against retailer CVAs that have led to radically reduced rents, a number of zero-rent deals and empty stores.

The owner of the giant Meadowhall mall voted against Monsoon’s CVA plan and it has now emerged that it has filed a legal bid to block it, based on what it claims was a lack of transparency around the process. Sky News reported that British Land feels Monsoon founder Peter Simon didn’t listen to landlord concerns about the CVA terms.

But it’s unlikely that its objections could derail the CVA process as the property firm is the only landlord to be objecting and owns only five of the company’s 258 locations. 

Among the big property firms that own many of Britain’s premier shopping locations, British land has been the least likely to agree to retailer CVA plans. It joined a group of landlords challenging the Regis salon operator’s CVA last year and this year it only agreed to support Arcadia’s restructuring plan after last-minute concessions from the fashion retailer.

Analysts said talks are ongoing between Monsoon and the landlord and that the situation could be resolved before it reaches court.