Good morning.
Retailers are inserting ‘pandemic clauses’(£) into new leases, which will cut rent in the event of a lockdown. One landlord said: “If we had had these leases in place before Covid we would have saved ourselves a hell of a lot of bother.”
Doubts over the future of Debenhams are growing after suitors, including Mike Ashley, were given three days to make a £300m rescue bid(£).
Ashley’s Fraser Group is also eyeing up the rump of Philip Day’s fallen empire(£).
Hotel Chocolat has left a bitter taste in GPE’s mouth, after clashing over a rent deal(£) at its Regent’s Street flagship.
Sovereign Centros has taken over as asset manager of the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead, with Savills appointed as its property manager.
The Issa brothers’ EG Group(£) has been dealt another blow after it was revealed that its finance director had planned to resign(£).
Nick Leslau has dropped plans to kick out Travelodge(£) in favour of a rival operator.
The style-led Mondrian hotel brand, meanwhile, is to return to London after signing a deal to take over the five-star Curtain hotel(£) in Shoreditch.
Mayfair members haunt The Conduit Club(£) has closed after its lender, Metro Bank, appointed administrators over an unpaid debt.
Nightclubs banned from opening late have taken to opening early as workspace.
On Friday news of Lone Star’s £630m takeover bid sent retirement home developer McCarthy & Stone’s stock surging, settling at 0.8p over Lone Star’s 115p offer price. The McCarthy bid “seems puzzlingly low”, says The Times (£), while Royal London, which owns 5%, said that the deal was “opportunistic”(£) and that the “longer-term value could be greater”.
EG has launched its second mental health survey.
The government has been told to avoid large projects(£) like HS2 and stick to small, easily delivered infrastructure to boost the economy.
The chancellor, meanwhile, has come under pressure to reveal the contents of his blind trust(£).
The cost of lives saved by a circuit-breaker lockdown may not be worth the hit to the economy, according to a Sage analysis(£).
Police investigating the Grenfell Tower disaster have made their first arrest(£).
The Times (£) asks whether a job cull will crash the housing market, and identifies four nondescript buildings that should be celebrated for their place in Britain’s black history(£).
The Guardian explores efforts to open up and rewild Brighton’s golf courses and looks into how easy it was for Spelthorne council to spend £1.1bn amassing commercial property.
Meanwhile The FT(£) has a handy guide to Donald J Trump’s $1.1bn debts. Of that debt £900m will come due in Trump’s second term, should he win on 3 November.
A couple has clashed over an £4m share of a property portfolio promised from a prison cell(£).
And finally, Michael Gove is a firm supporter of the government’s ambition to build, build, build more housing. And he supports the reforms to the planning system to prevent locals from blocking housing developments. Unless they are in his back yard, it seems. The Cabinet minister popped up on a video chat for the planning inquiry into Cala Homes’ 44-house development in Bagshot(£), at the heart of Govey’s constituency, to register his disapproval for the scheme, even though it has the backing of the council and will provide 40% affordable homes.
