Commercial Lease Solicitors

There is no legal requirement, but a commercial lease is one of the largest financial commitments most businesses make, and it is drafted by the landlord's advisers in the landlord's interests. A review before signature identifies the repair obligations, service charge exposure, review pattern and exit rights you are taking on, and negotiation at that stage routinely improves the terms. The cost of commercial lease advice before signing is a small fraction of the cost of being bound by the wrong lease.

A lease inside the Act gives the tenant security of tenure: the tenancy continues at the end of the term and the tenant may seek a new lease, which the landlord can only oppose on statutory grounds. A lease outside the Act, contracted out by the statutory notice and declaration procedure before it is granted, ends when the term ends. Whether to accept a contracted out lease is a commercial judgment about how much the location matters to the business, and it should be negotiated, not assumed.

A lease under which the tenant bears the full cost of repairing the premises and, through the rent or service charge, the cost of insuring them. On a full repairing lease of an older building the tenant can be obliged to hand back the premises in better condition than it received them. The protection is a schedule of condition, agreed at the outset, which limits the repairing obligation to the state of the premises on day one.

Where the lease requires the landlord's consent, statute provides that consent is not to be unreasonably withheld and the landlord must give a decision within a reasonable time with written reasons. What is reasonable depends on the covenant strength of the incoming tenant and the terms proposed. A landlord who withholds consent unreasonably exposes itself to a claim, and a tenant who assigns without required consent risks forfeiture, so the application should be prepared properly on both sides.

Break clauses are enforced strictly according to their conditions. Common failures include serving notice on the wrong party or at the wrong address, missing the deadline, failing to give vacant possession, and failing to pay every sum due at the break date, including sums that are trivial or disputed. A failed break commits the tenant to the remainder of the term. We advise on break conditions before the lease is signed and prepare break notices so they succeed.

Heads of terms record the commercial deal between landlord and tenant before the lease is drafted: the rent, the term, breaks, repair basis, and whether the lease is inside the 1954 Act. They are usually stated to be not legally binding, but they set the drafting agenda, and terms conceded at heads of terms stage are rarely recovered in negotiation. Taking advice before agreeing heads of terms is the cheapest improvement you can make to a lease.

We quote fixed fees for every stage, agreed before any work starts, at prices around 30% cheaper than a standard law firm, whether that is a review of a lease you have been sent, drafting for a landlord, or handling a renewal, assignment or break. Outline the transaction and we will respond with a clear fixed fee quote the same day.