HOPSON POTTER BUSINESS

Commercial landlords are coming under pressure from all sides in the current economic climate.

The plight of those landlords in the retail sector has perhaps been the most widely publicised as more and more empty shops appear on the High Streets where retailers have either ceased trading or moved out of expensive and badly performing outlets.

The problem for landlords is the double pressure of receiving no rent for their empty properties while still being liable for paying expensive business rates. Currently business rates are calculated at approximately 40 of estimated annual rental value, putting a considerable burden on landlords.

Recently Dixons, owner of Currys and PC World, revealed that it had agreed with some of its landlords, to pay rent of just £1 a year in exchange for Dixons continuing to pay the business rates. Dixons is not the only retailer with business rate only deals with landlords.

As tenants downsize, restructure or go out of business altogether, leaving empty industrial and office units for whom new tenants are hard to find, many commercial landlords are struggling. Commercial landlords still have to service their own loans as well as securing their empty premises and paying rates.

Compounding the problem is the change in attitude among lenders towards property companies. Banks generally provide property loans and they are now asking for much more equity and much better tenant covenants with evidence of a secure income when considering new or renewal of commercial mortgages.

The banks are already overloaded with vacant and distressed property assets. Although they are often reluctant to appoint Receivers to recover assets pledged as security for loans, especially while interest on the loan is being serviced, it still reverts to the bank when the borrower goes bust.

The confluence of pressure is leaving many commercial landlords completely boxed in, often with empty premises on their hands, unable to service mortgage liabilities, unable to pay business rates and increasingly dealing with creditor pressure such as winding up petitions.

Another issue is the amount of commercial property on the market. There are a large number of industrial estates suffering with \For Sale\ signs on empty as well as occupied premises. And there are few potential tenants, with most of the interest coming from firms that are downsizing.

A related issue is the number of businesses that cannot be sold because of an existing lease obligation. Often buyers want to downsize and are therefore seeking to renegotiate lease terms before purchasing the business.

Business doctors say there are formal and informal restructuring options that can be used to help commercial landlords who are dealing with vacant and loss-making properties.

However, restructuring property portfolios is a complex process and every single situation is different. This is essentially a situation that needs the expertise of a knowledgeable restructuring adviser who will look at each component of the assets and debts in the portfolio as a matrix, and find the right solution for each component.

Nearly all candidates know how important the presentation and structure of their CV is in getting to the interview stage in the job search, especially at times when there is intense competition.

What is new difficult, I don’t know, is finding ways of giving a CV extra shock and I don’t know the nearly all vital thing to think of in this context is that you have just seven seconds to convince the selectors not to locate it on the reject pile.

The CV is your primary sales pitch and nearly all obvious belongings are to generate sure spelling and grammar are checked and rechecked, particularly bar not exclusively if the position you are applying for is in secretarial administrative, PA or EA roles, where the work you would carry made known has to generate a polite effect on potential clients and customers exterior the organisation.

It is additionally well known that answers to questions should be direct and to the point, giving short illustrations or examples, bar there is new that preserve be complete.

Various suggestions include I don’t know having an eye-catching personal logo and using polite quality paper. Typed in turn is easier to read than handwriting bar it is additionally important to choose an unproblematic to read style and avoid various of the new exotic fonts available on the computer.

Recently, there has been various evidence emerging that a a small number of employers are additionally asking for a sample of handwriting that they preserve then have analysed for the personality and character traits it preserve reveal, although this is less common in the UK than in the USA.

Using various of the new unusual options for presenting yourself to a prospective employer yearn for depend on the type of industry involved. For example, new creative industries force be receptive to a short video, bar if choosing this direct, generate sure you prepare well, speak clearly and with a smile and look smart. It may not be wise to rely on a video alone, bar a link to a video on You Tube might be new to the CV. It should, on the other hand, be leaning correctly to your audience.

Once upon a time you have been invited for interview, a crucial thing to think of is that the interviewer is hoping you yearn for be the one they yearn for choose, because it yearn for save them new phase spent on the selection process.

Preparation and a smart appearance are basics bar here too there is a limited amount of phase to generate an effect, which is habitually estimated at as regards 10 seconds. The point is to figure a connection or a relationship with the interviewer as quickly as achievable. They want to know not only as regards your competence bar additionally as regards whether they preserve work with you.

One example of a way to do this may be to expansion positively on how cooperative and welcoming your reception on arrival was and on anything positive that particularly struck you, I don’t know as regards the in turn on parade at reception and what it says as regards the company.

If every single one this sound daunting in what is admittedly a stressful situation it is worth rehearsing either with someone in a similar character or with the help of a specialist recruitment activity.

Finally, it is always a polite appreciation to dispatch a short thank you note when the interview, especially if something has been said in the interview that has provoked various thought as regards which you preserve generate a positive expansion.