Solicitor for commercial lease?

[smo]

We are negotiating a new commercial lease for premises, we've got to heads of terms but no they want my solicitor details....i dont have one for this sort of thing.

Do i really need one?? I'm unsure as to what they are going to bring to the party other than another big bill, I've tried to get an idea of costs to get them to review the lease but half dont ring back and the other half refuse to put any sort of cost on it. One went on about needing 4-6 weeks and time to do searches....why would i want searches, its a lease not a purchase!!

Can anyone shed some light please?

 

[kulture]

Do not even think about not using a solicitor. You could loose a fortune by not using a solicitor. You must use a commercial solicitor. One who understands commercial leases.

Commercial leases have NO PROTECTION built in law. The initial lease will be written to the benefit of the landlord. A good solicitor will do the follows

- make sure that the landlord has the right to lease you the property
- Make sure that the property can be used for the purpose you want to use it for for at least the period of the lease
- make sure that you have a get out should things go wrong
- make sure that the landlord cannot arbitrarily double or triple the rent at any rent review
- make sure that you are not saddled with huge dilapidation costs during and at the end of the lease.
- make sure that the landlord cannot kick you out as soon as you start making a profit and take over your business.

And so on

 

[smo]

But most of those are a given and easy to see, i've already negotiated break clauses, rent reviews etc. I know he has the rights to lease the property as he owns most of devon and ive checked planning...

 

[kulture]

No, most of these can be hidden in technical language, confusing paragraphs and jargon.

DO NOT DO IT ALONE.

 

[Steve Sellers]

Agree with kulture. Even I wouldn't attempt to dabble with doing my own lease because they require specialist knowledge, and will be full of clauses you won't understand and/or don't cover you in certain events. I can recommend a very reasonably priced and skilled commercial property solicitor, who works fixed fee.

 

[smo]

I wont be doing it alone, so thankyou for the advice

Steve - if you want to drop me a PM....

 

[arcon5]

They will also

- seek the limit liability in case of repairs (depending on the type of lease)
- ensure the dates of the break clause and rent review clauses are not to the LLs benefit and to your significant disadvantage
- seek to limit any personal liability regarding rents
- seek to limit when the LL can and cannot enter the property in certain circumstances, such as falling behind in rent
- seek to limit the LLs rights over your assets
- seek to assert your right to sub-let or ensure the LL cannot 'reasonably' deny this

A successful business will be in their premises for many years (especially within retail and the food industry), especially considering you will spend £000s on fitting the shop out - a single mistake now can you you gravely in 5/10/20 years!

At least if you use a solicitor and instruct him/her to review the lease you could potentially have somewhere to fall back on if problems do arise (remember most solicitors will have professional indemnity insurance).

I echo 100% the advice already given... use a solicitor! They know what to look for. You may think you understand the working of the terms, but you do not have the knowledge of case law amongst much more to truly interpret them and their affect on you!

Many solicitors will offer this on either a fixed price or capped price. You should look to pay between £800-£1200 for this service. Although it really depends on the size of the property as larger properties will have much more complicated leases.

Again to echo what has already been said... the initial lease has been drafted to benefit nobody but the LL (who remember is running a for-profit business like you and whose job is to maximise revenue and minimise expenditure)... you want the lease to benefit you... then meet in the middle.

[By the way, i'm speaking as somebody who DID sign a lease without a solicitor and paid a huge price for it!!!]

 

[kelvin1950]

Just to add my twopennorth. You must use a solicitor, I thought about going it alone and I shudder to think what I would have given away if I had done so.

 

[kulture]

As the LL is a major one in Devon, it may not hurt to choose a good local solicitor who has worked for other tenants in the past. The LL will probably use the same initial lease for all properties, so the solicitor will have first hand knowledge of what can be changed easily, what might be changed if pushed, and what the LL has not yet given in to.