RESEARCH published this month by the British Property Federation shows that lease lengths across the UK are now at their lowest recorded levels, falling on average by almost a year to just five years in 2010.

And small businesses are increasingly signing shorter deals, with four out of five on leases of less than five years – and therefore unlikely to face a hike in rent during their tenancy – while just 3% of small businesses are on leases of 10 years or more.

This is good news for Liverpool.

These changes have given SMEs a huge amount of flexibility, making it more likely they will remain in business during difficult times.

In uncertain times, it makes little sense for them to tie themselves into the obligations of a long lease.

And the good news doesn’t stop there.

The proportion of leases with a break clause, which allows companies to end their tenancy at a set time, increased to almost 30% in 2009/10.

The data shows this “quiet revolution” in leasing practise has been taking place since the early 1990s, when the majority of leases were “institutional”: typically for 20 or 25 years and often containing upward-only rent reviews.

Lease lengths have basically halved in the period since the Conservative Party was last in power. However, there is still a place for long leases.

These deals play a crucial part in the funding of development of commercial property, even more so at this time when access to debt finance is severely rationed.

And they give certainty to larger businesses that want a long-term commitment to a building.

Tenants could even find that, in today’s occupier’s market”, they could still get a corker of a deal.