I need some help and advice with regards rent review / lease renewal. I am a sole trader and rent a small shop in a busy village. I originally bought the business in December 2003 and had the lease reassigned from the old owners. Under the terms of the original lease the lease runs from 01-09-2000 until 30-08-2010. There was provision for a rent review on 1st September 2005 and every third year. Until September 2005 the rent was fixed at £10,000 a year.

The premises is a tiny shop circa 6m x 3.5m in size. The rent review date has long since passed (today being 28th March 2006). My landlord (who rents directly from the landlord (i.e. I am sub-tenant) mentioned to me today that she is seeing her solicitor this week with regards a rent review.

My questions are:

Does the review not have to be served in writing at the time it was due, and not several months later? Can it therefore be carried through?
Secondly, are there limits to the increase in rent that a landlord can impose during a review?
Thirdly, when the lease is finally due for renewal in 2010 do I have to buy the new lease as well as rent, or does a new rental price simply get agreed and put into a new lease contract, but with no one-off payment on top?

I am so new to this and limited in my resources in accessing the best firms for advice. Any thoughts from anybody’s experience would be very much appreciated.