Martyn’s Law: Commercial Property Update 2025
Following our previous article, it is confirmed that the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, widely known as Martyn’s Law, received royal assent in April 2025. The Act is now expected to come into force before April 2027.
This now presents a good opportunity for commercial landlords to start understanding what the legislation requires of them and to start engaging with tenants who may be subject to the Act.
What is Martyn’s Law and why is it so named?
Martyn’s Law is named in memory of Martyn Hett, who was tragically killed alongside others in the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017. The bill imposes upon owners/occupiers of certain premises and those responsible for certain events, the requirement to prepare for potential terrorist attacks.
What commercial leases will be affected by Martyn’s Law?
For commercial properties, this is likely to impact mainly upon shopping centres, cinemas, theatres, large shops and restaurants.
The rules apply to “Qualifying Premises” and “Qualifying Events”. Qualifying Premises are ‘standard duty’ premises where between 200-799 individuals may be present at the same time and ‘enhanced duty’ premises, where that figure is 800 individuals or above.
Specified uses include:
- Retail, including shops and shopping centres
- Hospitality, including restaurants, nightclubs, pubs, hotels and holiday parks
- Leisure and entertainment properties such as cinemas and theatres
- Sporting grounds
Who is responsible under Martyn’s Law?
The “Responsible Person” for commercial properties could be the landlord, tenant or managing agent. This information could be detailed within a commercial property lease. Where the ‘responsible person’ is not an individual, a senior individual responsible for compliance will need to be designated. That person must ensure the qualifying premises comply with Martyn’s Law.
What duties must the responsible person undertake?
The regulator responsible for enforcement is the Security Industry Authority (SIA). For standard premises, the responsible person must notify the SIA who is responsible and put in place the following:
- Appropriate public protection procedures for evacuation
- Moving individuals to a safe place
- Preventing individuals from entering or leaving the premises
- Providing information to individuals in the event of a terror attack.
For enhanced duty premises, the same obligations apply and in addition, documentation must be provided to the SIA explaining the public protection measures in place, together with a risk assessment showing how these reduce vulnerabilities of the premises/event and risk of harm.
What do landlords and tenants need to do moving forward?
The government is due to provide guidance on measures to be taken and staff training on incident response plans. Importantly, moving forward, leases of affected premises should set out who is to be responsible for compliance with Martyn’s Law.
Where there is more than one qualifying premises within the same building (which may be the case with a restaurant, cinema or shopping centre) coordination will be required between the respective responsible persons in terms of risk assessments and required procedures.
What happens if landlords or tenants do not comply?
Enforcement action for non-compliance will be dealt with by the SIA and could include significant financial penalties of the greater of £18,000,000 or 5% of the organisation’s most recent worldwide revenue. Failure to comply with a penalty notice will be a criminal offence.
Although Martyn’s Law is not due to come into effect for another 16 months, it will impact many commercial properties, and organisations should consider sooner rather than later who the responsible person is and what duties will apply.
Next steps
Whether you are a commercial landlord or tenant, if you need advice on any issues arising from commercial property leases then please contact GA Solicitors’ specialist commercial property solicitors in Plymouth by calling 01752 203500 or email me directly via david.stone@GAsolicitors.com.
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