About this shop lease
This lease should be used to let a shop or retail unit that does not share services or facilities with neighbouring units owned by the same landlord. The shop itself may be part of a parade of other shops owned by other landlords, or it may be stand-alone. Of importance is that the landlord does not need to recover service charges from the tenant.
The tenant could use the shop for any purpose including:
- conventional retail of goods
- provision of services such as PC repair or estate agency
The shop may or may not have additional space used by the tenant for other business purposes, such as offices or storage. This lease does not cover additional space used for residential use by the tenant, although Net Lawman does provide one that does (see below).
The document has been drawn to help protect the landlord's interests as greatly as possible.
This lease does not need to be registered at the Land Registry as it is for a short term of 7 years or under.
Similar commercial lease agreements
If a restaurant, cafe or fast food outlet will be operated from the property, use Business lease: restaurant, cafe or fast food. This lease contains specific clauses for commercial kitchens and food retail.
If the shop being let is part of a parade owned by the same landlord, or uses shared facilities and services, use Business lease: shop in parade. This agreement contains service charge recovery provisions.
If the tenant will also live at the property, use Mixed use lease: shop in parade with residential space.
If the property will be used as an office (rather than a shop), Office lease may be more appropriate.
Key features
Plain English is used throughout except where it is necessary to use legal terms common in this field of law.
The key features of this template can be summarised as:
- term of 7 years or under (often called a short term lease)
- standard guarantor
- options for transfer or assignment to another party
- sub-letting forbidden
- option to include a break clause for premature termination by the tenant
- a choice of options for rent reviews
- opt-out of Sections 24-28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
This document has been drawn so as to make it applicable to the vast majority of leasing scenarios without making it difficult to edit. We sell another version of this lease, aimed at property developers, solicitors and surveyors, that contains some additional paragraphs covering more technical points. You might be interested in looking at: Commercial property lease: retail unit or shop if you need any of the following:
- provisions for sub-letting
- provisions for an authorised guarantee agreement
- extensive landlord's warranties
- references to land registration for leases with a term greater than 7 years
- prescribed lease clauses
The law in this shop lease
Commercial lease law is regulated primarily by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, amended many times. Account has also been taken of:
- the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995;
- the Regulatory Reform Regulations 2003;
- the Joint Committee's Code for Leasing Business Premises;
- the RICS' Code on Service Charges.
In balancing the codes with the law and the interest of the Landlord, we have followed the codes where reasonable, but have preferred the interest of the Landlord where there may be a difference.
Document contents
This shop lease is comprehensive, providing alternative choices for important decisions. The contents include 24 provisions and 2 schedules covering:
- rent: period, amount, other payments, interest on overdue rent, periodic review
- condition and repair
- tenant's positive obligations
- restrictions on tenant: prohibited activities on the property
- signs and advertisements
- assignment of the lease
- indemnities by the tenant
- security deposit
- insurance
- access for landlord
- guarantor
- termination: default notice by landlord; provision for premature termination (a break clause)
- forfeiture
- security of tenure excluded
- Schedule 1: rights reserved
- Schedule 2: draft agreement for a security deposit
Reasons to buy from Net Lawman
30 day full money back guarantee
This document comes with a no questions asked full money back guarantee. We’ll give you 30 days to evaluate it in any way you want. If you find that it isn't suitable for whatever reason, we’ll happily refund your money in full immediately.
Guidance notes included
We have provided over 3,500 words (8 pages) of extensive, pithy guidance notes to help you complete your business property lease. These notes ensure that you don’t need to be a lawyer to understand how to edit the document.
Minimal editing required
Our belief is that you should only ever have to decide whether a provision is surplus to your needs and not whether one is missing. It is much easier to remove what you don't need than draft your own additional text. We provide a menu of choices as often as possible so that this document can be used for as many letting scenarios as possible.
Plain language minimises future disagreements
Your agreement is real law written in plain language that all parties will understand.
Buy once and use again for multiple tenants and multiple properties
You can use the lease contract for multiple tenants and for different properties.
Delivered straight to your inbox
As soon as you complete the secure checkout process, we will send your shop lease straight to your inbox. We will also keep a copy for you for 60 days in our customer area so you can access it even when you are away from your e-mail.
If you have any questions as to whether this is the right document for you?
If you are unsure whether this shop lease is suitable for your situation, then please contact us and ask. We can't offer you legal advice, but we can direct you to the most suitable document. We aim to respond to your question within 24 hours. |
