LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Publicans tied to Britain's bigpub companies are to be given greater powers to challenge rentprices and will have a new independent adjudicator to turn to indisputes, under reforms unveiled by the government on Tuesday.
Almost half of Britain's 50,000 pubs are run by tenantsunder "beer-tie" agreements, in which they buy beer from thefirm that holds their lease at above market prices in return forsubsidised rent or other benefits.
Publicans, however, have complained of unfair treatment fromlandlords, with many saying they earn less than a nationalminimum wage equivalent salary of 10,000 pounds ($16,800) ayear.
In response lawmakers have since January last year pushedfor a statutory code to ensure big pub companies stick to theagreement and do not hike rents too high.
"Far too many landlords feel their income is squeezed by bigpub companies. So today we are taking action to make sure theyget a fairer deal," Business Secretary Vince Cable said.
Under the reforms, tied tenants can request a rent review ifthey have not had one for five years and will also have accessto the information pub companies have used to decide to increaserents.
An adjudicator will have the power to provide redress wherethe code has been breached and impose sanctions includingfinancial penalties for systemic breaches.
Publicans in rent dispute with firms with 500 or moretenanted pubs, such as Enterprise Inns, Greene King and Punch Taverns, will also have the power torequest an assessment to show whether they are worse off thantheir free-of-tie counterparts.
Some campaigners had asked for a more radical mandatorymarket rent-only option to be included in reforms, but ministerssaid there was insufficient support to proceed with that idea.
While the government says the code would save tenantsthousands of pounds a year, big pub firms have argued it willlead to reduced investment, resulting in increased pub closuresand shutting off the industry to new entrants seeking a low costway to enter the market.
As many as 26 pubs close every week in Britain. ($1 = 0.5968 British Pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by David Holmes)