Time to take a break?

You are negotiating a new commercial lease. Flashforward a few years and the future of the economy is uncertain. You may be a tenant who needs to ‘get out’ or you may be a landlord who is thinking about selling the building free from occupiers. What next?

Beware of the bear traps!

1. Vacant Possession – this requires the tenant to remove all of their fixtures, fittings, belongings etc at the end of the lease term. The courts are known to construe this pre-condition very strictly and for example, leaving a bag of rubbish in the property can be interpreted as not giving vacant possession. The more favourable variation of this condition is for the “tenant to give up occupation of the premises and leave no continuing subleases”. For landlords this should give comfort that the premises will be returned free from any occupants.
2. Payment of rents in advance – the landlord will usually require payment of all rents reserved by the lease to be paid up to and including the break date. Where the condition is not limited to just the annual rent, this will also include payment of service charge, insurance rent and interest etc. Such sums could be in dispute and not resolved by the break date. Tenants would have to ensure that all payments were made in full and on time in order to meet this condition. It is therefore recommended that the condition is limited to only the annual rent payable, as this amount and payment date will be known. It is also important to remember to include a provision for the refund of any annual rent, insurance rent and service charge which the tenant has paid in respect of the period after the break date. This is a reasonable position and shouldn’t prejudice the position of the landlord – the landlord will have other remedies for non-payment of rent.
3. Compliance with covenants – the tenant will be precluded from exercising the break if it has breached any covenant in the lease, no matter how minor or trivial. The compromise position here is to limit compliance to a “material breach of covenant which has not been remedied within a reasonable period of the tenant having received notice of the breach”. From the perspective of the landlord, you will have remedies under the lease for breach of covenant, so your position should not be weakened by accepting this.

Is it too late?

Tips for landlord and tenants