Introduction

Towards the end of 2020, while businesses were reeling from the challenges of grappling with a global pandemic, the end of the Brexit transition period and LIBOR transition, the Law Commission published a paper analysing the current law underlying intermediated securities - Intermediated securities: who owns your shares? A Scoping Paper.

As the economic crisis brought on by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic deepens, commercial landlords would be wise to review the deposit language contained in their leases with their counsel. In particular, the wording of the rent deposit and security deposit provisions should be examined more closely and consideration given to who would be entitled to the deposit in the context of a tenant bankruptcy.