Bewleys win ‘no help’ to strugglers

Bewley’s victory in the High Court is unlikely to help tenants struggling with upward-only rent reviews, says NUI Galway lecturer in land law, Padraic Kenna.

Dr Kenna said the key to the judgment by Mr Justice Peter Charleton had been the fact that there was not an upward-only clause in Bewleys’ contract with their landlord, Ickendel Ltd, owned by Johnny Ronan’s Treasury Holdings Group.

“The difference is that there was no upward-only clause in the contract and the court was not willing to construct one,” he said.