Home / How Martyn’s Law will affect owners and occupiers of commercial property
14th September 2026
Faye Astin, Solicitor
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (known as Martyn’s Law) will impose significant new obligations on owners and occupiers of certain commercial property that meets specified criteria. The Act received Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 but will not come into force for at least 24 months, giving owners and occupiers time to prepare.
Commercial properties fall within the scope of the Act if they are properties used wholly or mainly for specified purposes listed in Schedule 1 of the Act, which include (amongst other uses) shops, food and drink outlets, entertainment and leisure venues, hotels and visitor attractions where 200 or more individuals can reasonably be expected to be present at the same time. The Act establishes a tiered system based on capacity: standard tier premises accommodate 200 to 799 individuals, whilst enhanced tier premises accommodate 800 or more.
The individual, company or organisation which has control of a standard tier premises (which can include a lessee or licensee) for the purpose of their relevant Schedule 1 use (e.g. the use of a venue as a sports ground or a hotel) must ensure appropriate public protection procedures are in place. These procedures are those which should be followed by people working at the premises if an act of terrorism were to occur. They are procedures which may be expected to reduce the risk of physical harm being caused to individuals relating to evacuation, invacuation (moving people to a safe place), locking down the premises, and communicating with individuals on the premises.
The individual, company or organisation which has control of an enhanced tier premises for the purpose of their relevant Schedule 1 use must implement public protection measures to reduce vulnerability to terrorist attacks and the risk of physical harm. These measures include the standard tier procedures and additional procedures involving the monitoring of the premises and immediate vicinity to detect suspicious activities, measures to control movement of individuals into and within the premises, physical safety and security measures to strengthen the premises against attacks, and information security measures to prevent sensitive operational information being accessible for attack planning. This may involve making physical alterations to the property such as:
Tenants or licensees of an enhanced tier premises that requires physical alterations should carefully review the terms of their lease or licence to determine which parts of the property fall within the demise of the lease or licence, which parts of the property the landlord retains responsibility for (such as common parts) and therefore whose responsibility it is to implement changes required under the Act.
Service charge provisions should be considered too to ascertain whether the landlord can charge tenants for alterations to any areas which they retain responsibility for, or whether capital costs of alterations are excluded.
Also, alterations clauses should be reviewed to check whether landlord consent must be obtained for internal / non-structural alterations, whether external / structural alterations are prohibited and whether landlord consent (if required) can be withheld, delayed, or conditional. If consent to alterations is required, it will need to be applied for sooner rather than later to allow sufficient time to gain consent to and implement the alterations.
Finally, reinstatement provisions should be considered to ascertain whether any alterations will need to be removed at lease expiry. The general position within a short-term commercial lease is that the tenant will be required to reinstate all alterations, however, due to the potential substantial cost of alterations made in accordance with the Act, any lessee or licensee should push for reinstatement provisions not to apply.
The Security Industry Authority has been given regulatory responsibility for enforcing compliance. The SIA maintains a register of premises, issues guidance, and has powers to issue notices requiring compliance or imposing restrictions. The SIA can impose fines of up to £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher, and some breaches constitute criminal offences.
If you require assistance with lease or licence reviews or applications for landlord consent to alterations, we can help.