GP practices that rent premises from the NHS are to get a standard leasing agreement with new safeguards, it has been announced.

Practices have until November next year to sign up for the new lease and get costs of the sign-up, such as stamp duty, refunded by NHS England.

The deal was announced yesterday by the British Medical Association’s GP committee.

The template lease will allow practices to break it if they lose their contract.

Practices will also get reimbursement if rents are revised.

NHS Property Services will not be allowed to relocate practices without their agreement – as previous leases stated.

And there will also be an agreed dispute resolution process.

Dr Brian Balmer, from the BMA GP committee, said: “This is the first agreed template lease between NHS Property Services and the BMA.

“It has been produced after considerable negotiation and we believe it allows practices to sign up to individual leases with the confidence that they are entering into a fair and modern relationship with the landlord.

“There will of course always be local issues which need to be resolved and this agreement is not a magic bullet to every problem that arises with GP premises. The government still, for example, needs to deliver on their planned investment in GP infrastructure.”

He added: “However, this new agreement is a significant step forward and presents an opportunity that I would urge GP practices to seriously consider, especially as some of the benefits of this agreement are only available for a specific period of time.”

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