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Those working in the property industry have been muddling through an era of austerity as there just aren’t the volumes of prestigious deals to pull off any more. The supply of property is outstripping current demand.

But, with the Midlands having the largest stock of vacant retail units outside of London (at approximately 3.24 million sq ft) and with 25-30 per cent of office stock being vacant, there are opportunities for those occupiers in the right place at the right time.

Many will have seen how our town and city centres are becoming more diverse. Before the credit crunch there were consumer complaints about the lack of variety in the retail offering in our centres. Large chain stores were inevitably the first choice of landlords seeking to increase the capital value of their property investments by granting leases to tenants with the best covenant strengths. The vitality of the market meant that there was little incentive to deliver a good tenant mix in centres as, with retailers vying over vacant space, the highest bidder with the cast iron covenant was the sure cert.

The credit crunch has meant that even successful high streets have seen voids that have remained for sustained periods. Combine this with the changes to business rates, leaving owners with rate bills where property remains empty for more than three months in the case of retail units or six months in the case of warehousing and industrial premises, and it has meant that landlords have needed to reassess their approach to property management. The result has been that occupiers have rarely had a stronger position.

With businesses seeing reduced profits, landlords and tenants have had to work together to ensure their mutual survival. I am sure that many will have been involved in the renegotiation of lease terms to give tenants the additional scope they need to continue to occupy space. Initial measures included assisting tenants to manage their cash flow by changing the rent payment frequency from quarterly to monthly. However, as time has passed and everyone has realised that the economy isn’t going to bounce back quite as quickly as was initially thought, there have been opportunities for a greater partnering approach to be adopted. For example, I have seen a resurgence of the popularity of turnover rents as landlords and tenants agree to share business risk.

There are more opportunities than ever for start-up businesses to secure premises on reasonable terms. The occupier has rarely had so much choice and, when negotiating the terms of any lease, they have a greater opportunity to broaden the scope of those negotiations away from bare essentials, such as the amount of rent paid.

I have seen much more attention being paid to the repair provisions, and caps on service charges are cropping up more frequently as occupiers are seeking to increase certainty in all of their outgoings. The length of the lease itself has evolved, with terms becoming shorter and with more frequent tenant break rights being agreed, taking the average lease to ten years with a five year term certain.

As for the rent itself, there has been more flexibility here too. Not only are rents per square foot coming down (£28 per sq ft prime office from the peak of £33 per sq ft/ £265 per sq ft prime retail from the peak of £350 per sq ft in the Midlands) but there has also been a significant increase in the length of rent free periods from perhaps a couple of months to up to three years.

Beth Margetson is an associate specialising in property law in the Birmingham office of legal firm Anthony Collins