legal advise needed

[littlesarah53]

Hi everyone,
I am looking to take on a commercial lease for a property to open up a new Pizzeria. The property only has A1 use so we need to apply for change of use to A3. I have already spoken to the local council and they have unofficially said that they can see no reason why planning would be refused.
I am looking to ask the landlord to take the property off the market while I apply for planning , but we need to agree the lease terms before he will do that so should I instruct a solicitor now, to negotiate the offer for the lease before we do anything else, or should I do this after we have the planning approved ? Can they help with the planning application ?
This is my first business so any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[ethical PR]

I would suggest alongside (hopefully) having done your market research to ensure there is room in the marketplace for your business and that you have the type of footfall necessary to make it successful, that you engage a solicitor from the outset.. I don't believe they negotiate the cost - that would be up to you, but they will check the terms, your liabilities etc.

I'm not sure that the landlord would take the property off the market as planning permission can take a while to obtain - it will depend on how in demand the property is and how easy it is to let without the planning permission you require.

If you want help with a planning application you would need to engage a planning specialist, but from what you have said it sounds fairly straightforward, so you would probably be able to do this yourself.

 

[Ziad]

I agree with ethical PR.

I would add that you can see if the Landlord will agree terms, subject to planning, so that you can start moving matters forward and thereby showing you are serious and locking in the Landlord for the duration until either planning is granted or not as the case may be.

I have come across this on many occasions and most Landlords are happy to agree this, unless as mentioned above the property is in a prime location and so many interested tenants who may not require planning permission as their business falls under A1 use.

Although you have had unofficial confirmation from the Council, I would not put much stock in that, as I nearly got burned on one occasion after having been told by the Council there should not be any issues and it then turned out there were. Fortunately, I managed to get it resolved after much aggravation.

Ultimately, you want to progress matters forward at limited expense until you know for certain that planning will be granted.

Your initial costs will be the planning application fee, planning specialist (if required), your legal fees plus disbursements, which you may want to fix should the matter not proceed and possibly the Landlord's fees (unless the Landlord has agreed to cover their owns legal fees, which does still happen now and again). There will of course be other costs, however these are the main ones to consider at the outset.

Good luck with it all.

Let me know if you manage to get it done and I'll happily come to eat there.