Get it in writing

I am currently acting for many landlords who are seeking to deal with tenants who are defaulting on their obligations.

What I have found surprising is the number of tenancies that commercial landlords enter into without having a properly drawn up lease.

While I fully understand the wish to save money in these tough times, renting out commercial property without a properly drafted lease will end up costing the landlord more in the long run. I have set out below five reasons why you should always have a written lease when renting out commercial property.

1. It’s the law
A tenancy for a period of three years or over as to be made by deed, so if you have verbally agreed a five year term, the tenant could potentially walk liability free at any time if you have not entered into a formal lease made by deed.

2. Protection
If you want to ensure you are able to get the property back from the tenant at the end of the lease term it is essential you have a written lease. If the lease is a periodic lease, that is, it runs from month to month or year to year, or is for a fixed term of over 12 months, it will be protected by the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

This protection restricts the rights of the landlord to get the property back at the end of the lease term, and also allows the tenant to apply for a new lease which the landlord can only object to on specific grounds. The landlord and tenant can agree that this protection does not apply, but they must follow a procedure which requires there to be a lease in writing.

3. Insurance, repairs and decoration
In most commercial leases the obligation to insure, repair and redecorate is placed upon the tenant. The extent of the obligation is up for negotiation, but at the very least a tenant should be made liable to pay for the buildings insurance on the property, keep the property in at least as good a state as it was at the start of the lease, making good any damage including that through wear and tear, and to decorate the property before handing it back.

This will make it much easier for you when seeking to re-let the property, and if the tenant has failed to comply with its repairing and redecorating obligations at the end of the lease term, you can claim against the tenant for the loss suffered, which is usually the cost of carrying out the repairs and decoration.

If there is no written lease the tenant has no obligation to contribute towards insurance or do anything to the premises, other than to avoid deliberate damage. In this situation you will be out of pocket for the insurance premium and may find yourself with a steep clean up and decorating bill before you can re-let.

4. Use
The only way you can restrict what the tenant does in your property is to have limitations in your written lease regarding what the tenant can an cannot do on the property. This can prevent the tenant doing something on the property which may be a nuisance to you or your other tenants, and could depress rental values on your other properties or stigmatise the property they are occupying.

5. Termination
A properly drafted commercial lease will have a provision that the landlord can get his property back if the rent is a specified number of days late, usually somewhere between 7 and 28 days. It also should state that where there has been any other breach of the lease terms, or the tenant has become insolvent, the landlord has a right to terminate the lease.

This powerful remedy is known as the forfeiture clause, and only exists if it has been properly agreed, and it will be difficult to argue it has been agreed unless it is contained within a written lease.

If there is no forfeiture provision, the landlord would have to go to court and argue that there has been a fundamental breach of contract entitling the landlord to break the tenancy, but this is by no means certain to succeed. An express forfeiture provision is essential to the proper management of commercial property.

The above are clear illustrations of the need to have a properly drafted commercial lease. The cost of getting the lease properly drafted will be saved many times over if there is a dispute with the tenant, and in relation to costs, the lease usually provides that the tenant should be responsible for the landlord’s management costs associated with the property itself.