Lease agreement

About this lease

This is an agreement for letting a public house or restaurant that has residential accommodation included as part of the property. The premises may be in an urban shop frontage, on a stand-alone site or in the countryside.

The agreement is drawn for maximum protection of landlord’s interests. It is very thorough with many simple options where choices are possible. As drawn, it favours the landlord rather than the tenant.

Where relevant, we have included matters relating to licences and the Licensing Act 2003.

Provided the term of the lease is seven years or less, it does not need to be registered at the Land Registry.

The law relating to this lease

The lease is regulated by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and not the Housing Act 1988. It includes an extensive menu of tenants' covenants to protect every aspect of the landlord's interest.

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

We have followed the codes where we think they are reasonable to the landlord, but favoured the interest of the landlord where there may be a difference.

Alternative documents

If there is no residential accommodation included, our lease for a restaurant may be more suitable.

Or you might let the residential property separately under a tenancy agreement such as one for an assured shorthold tenancy. However, if you do so, you may give the tenant greater rights than he or she would have under a lease for both parts of the property together.

Document contents

This lease agreement is comprehensive, providing alternative choices for important decisions.

The contents include 27 provisions and 2 schedules covering:

• rent: period, amount, other payments, interest on overdue rent, periodic review
• condition and repair
• tenant's positive obligations
• tenant's obligations for residential space
• service charge recovery
• 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

Scottish version of this lease

The law governing commercial leases is substantially different in Scotland as compared with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland there is less legislation and little case law relating to leases in Scotland. So the version we have drawn for our Scottish user is common law based.

Only those leases for longer than 20 years must be registered in the Land Register of Scotland. However, a lease is often registered in the Books of Council and Session in Edinburgh.

For the Scottish version of this lease please select "Scotland" from the list in top box.