Landlords furious over JJB Sports and Optical Express administrations The administrations threaten to spark new tensions between property companies and retailers. Relationships between the two parties have traditionally been frosty, although there has been an improvement in recent years as landlords have backed a series of CVAs and allowed some retailers to move on to monthly rents. Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "Administration should be about putting hard-pressed business back on their feet, not giving them a leg-up. We're therefore very surprised to see Optical Express stating its intention to buy back a number of stores. Administrators are put in place to get the best possible deal for creditors and not abide by the wishes of an otherwise successful retailer wanting to restructure at the expense of its landlords. The Insolvency Service and new Minister Jo Swinson MP need to start taking greater interest in these sorts of issues if creditors are to have any faith in the fairness of the insolvency system. KPMG, the administrators to JJB, have hired niche property agent Prime Retail to try to find buyers for the leases on the 133 JJB stores that have closed. It is understood Dave Whelan, the founder of JJB, and French retailer Decathlon are interested in a handful of the sites. Sports Direct has already snapped up 20 JJB sites as well as its warehouse, headquarters and brand in a £24m deal. However, as well as landlords, lenders to JJB also face a shortfall from the collapse of the retailer. The company had net debt of £36m, meaning lead lender Lloyds Banking Group and other JJB lenders such as Adidas will not be fully repaid following the Sports Direct deal.