PIRRS was set up in September 2009 to offer an independent, low-cost rent review resolution service. Figures revealed at the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations (FLVA) annual general meeting (AGM) in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, last week, show that tenants are submitting fewer enquiries about rent disputes, but that a greater number of cases are being resolved.
The figures (see table) relate to the number of enquiries from September 2009 until September 2012. Data from then on will be released later this year, due to a change in the reporting system.
'The sword of Damocles'
Speaking at the AGM, FLVA operations director Martin Caffrey, who is a tenant representative on the Pub Governing Body (PGB), which oversees PIRRS, said: “It shows tenants are getting used to the role of PIRRS and starting to use it in the correct way.
“One would assume that those that didn’t run through to resolution settled ‘outside court’, so to speak, because of the threat of PIRRS. It is a magnificent tool — I call it the sword of Damocles.”
A check on behaviour
A PGB spokesperson said the figures highlighted the “key role” that PIRRS plays in helping to resolve disputes between lessees and their landlords, but also the continuing problems many lessees are facing in ensuring that they are dealt with fairly and that they have the information they need to discuss what is a fair and sustainable rent in the current pub market.
They added: “The figures also demonstrate how PIRRS acts as a deterrent and a check on behaviour. The availability of alternative dispute resolution and an initial enquiry to PIRRS is, in some cases, sufficient to inject some much-needed common sense into overblown rental valuation discussions.”
PICA-Service figures
Meanwhile, nearly a third of tenants/lessees who submitted an application regarding a dispute with their pub company through the Pubs Independent Conciliation & Arbitration Service (PICA-Service) have had their dispute resolved, according to the latest figures.
Since PICA-Service was launched in March 2012, 31 licensees have submitted applications via the system. Five of these are still ‘active’, three ‘stalled’ and of the remaining cases that have closed, 10 were resolved, eight ended by panel hearing, three by preliminary hearing, and two after the applicant instructed PICA-Service not to progress with the complaint.