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Evidence of green leases in England and Wales

Susan Bright (New College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)
Hannah Dixie (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)

International Journal of Law in the Built Environment

ISSN: 1756-1450

Article publication date: 8 April 2014

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report on research that investigates the use of green clauses in leases of office and retail premises in England and Wales.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined 26 recent leases of green build properties registered at HM Land Registry. The green clauses discovered were classified and compared with the model form green clauses promoted by the London-based Better Building Partnership's Green Lease Toolkit.

Findings

Of the 26 leases analysed, 18 contained some form of green provision.

Research limitations/implications

As the sample selected was not representative, a larger study is needed to detect trends in green leasing. This research method does not show the impact of green clauses on property management.

Practical implications

This research illustrates the types of clauses that have been used in leases but also shows that green leasing principles are not yet the industry standard. Many new, long leases still make no reference to environmental practices.

Originality/value

This is the first research to be done examining the green content of agreed leases and develops a methodology that can be used for future research.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to assistance from HM Land Registry in helping them to narrow down titles to obtain copies of, and also from the retailer referred to in this report for supplying them with copies of agreed leases. This research was made possible by a grant from the Research Support Fund, Law Faculty, University of Oxford and research funding from New College, Oxford.

Citation

Bright, S. and Dixie, H. (2014), "Evidence of green leases in England and Wales", International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, Vol. 6 No. 1/2, pp. 6-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLBE-07-2013-0027

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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