Ms Maria Browne:

It can depend on the nature of the property in question, the Department involved, the use of the property and the rent. In situations where there may be long leases, tenants are more likely to have lower rent. Normally, the tenant looks for a break clause, but the tenant pays more to get a break clause and that has an impact on the rent.

There are a variety of leases that we deal with for Departments. They could be shorter-term leases of 20 or 21 years. In any lease we work on relating to State accommodation, by and large we discuss break clauses. The Departments are alert to these issues. Long leases normally arise in cases other than commercial situations.