BIM41110 | Specific receipts: reverse premiums: assignment of a lease

An inducement to accept an assignment of a lease is not a reverse premium if the transaction is entirely at arm’s length.

If an existing lease is assigned part way through its term by an existing tenant to a new tenant, and the new tenant receives a payment or benefit as an inducement, that will be a reverse premium if the inducement is provided by the original grantor of the lease, or by a person connected with the grantor, or by a nominee or person directed by either (see BIM41051).

Thus, a commercial payment by an existing tenant to induce a new tenant to take over an onerous lease will not normally be a reverse premium. The payment will be a reverse premium only if the tenant paying it is connected with the landlord, or is acting on the landlord’s behalf in making the payment.