I am delighted to report another nail in the coffin of the long lease. Abbey National recently did a "sale and leaseback" to a property company, Mapeley of 6.6 million square feet (almost its entire property portfolio of leaseholds and freeholds) for �457 million.

The Abbey says this means that the bank will now know exactly how much its property commitments will cost it over the next 20 years and will consequently be able to manage its portfolio more efficiently.

With leases running from as little as a year or two, and with flexible options to terminate or extend, it will use property exactly as, where and when it needs it. The deal shows a leading financial institution bucking the long-lease system that has done British business no favours in the past. The Great British Lease, according to Ernst & Young (who put the deal together) "is not just for Christmas".

It can extend well beyond the career span of senior managers, who often sign up for short-term expediency. The sacred mantras that property is a good place to lock up corporate money, that the 25-year lease is a necessary evil, and that buildings should be regarded as a company's crown jewels, are suddenly looking more questionable than ever before.