I have been taken aback by the level of naivety I have recently encountered regarding commercial leases. Small business owners, entrepreneurs, solo business owners. All these individuals I would expect to approach any commercial transaction with a good degree of caution. And scepticism. With a healthy reluctance to accept promises and statements made as part … Read more
When a tenant is in difficulty and arrears or rent have arisen with his lease it is sometimes the smartest move for the tenant to surrender the lease, and for the landlord to accept the surrender. This involves the tenant handing back the lease and the premises to the landlord on the basis that he … Read more
I was contacted last week by a couple of clients whose business has gone through the floor or evaporated entirely as a consequence of COVID-19. One of the first concerns they had was the difficulty they were inevitably going to encounter in trying to continue to pay the rent on their commercial premises. Here are … Read more
I am often asked by budding entrepreneurs to review the lease of a commercial premises which is part of a small business they are considering purchasing. The entrepreneur, understandably, is trying to avoid as much avoidable expenditure as possible and wants the lease reviewed for a competitive fee. I can do that, of course, without … Read more
Are you a landlord or tenant of a commercial lease? Depending on when you entered into the lease it may provide for ‘upward only’ rent reviews. Commercial leases from before February 2010 typically contained upward only rent reviews. This meant that the rent could only increase at each rent review date, and that is what … Read more