Business property lease agreements
Our business leases integrate years of experience of letting commercial property with a comprehensive legal framework that provides excellent protection for the landlord and a wide range of options to suit almost all requirements. All the templates include the provisions you would expect as standard, such as one for a guarantor, and each comes with full guidance notes that explain your options.
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- Topic Overview
Business lease: unit on industrial estate
Let a unit on an industrial estate such as a workshop, factory, depot or warehouse.
- suitable use classes E, B2, B8
- the unit could be one of a block under one roof or a stand-alone building.
The lease includes the use of shared services on the park or estate, such as security, access roads, signs and parking and many other practical points.
Business lease: offices above shop
This is a comprehensive yet uncomplicated business premises lease.
Let a self contained office building, or office space or storage space above a shop or other workspace.
The property should not share services with other properties.
There is no provision for a management or service charge.
Business lease: suite of offices
Let one or more rooms in a multi-tenanted building such as an office building or a mixed-use property.
The document includes:
- provision for recovery of 100% of service costs
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
For a similar document with simpler provisions and no service charge provision, use Offices above shop.
Office lease agreement: self contained building
Let the whole of an office building to a single tenant for business purposes. The document includes:
- rent review options
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
- options for assignment, and to forbid sub-letting
There is no provision for a management or service charge.
Business lease: land, either vacant or with plant or buildings
This land lease can be used for letting any type of land for any business purpose, whether a brownfield site for plant or equipment storage or as a scrap yard, or urban space as a farmers' marketplace.
The land may contain buildings or items of plant and machinery, but if the buildings on the land are the main feature, use Office: self contained building instead.
The lease template includes a draft agreement for a security deposit.
Business lease: shop in parade
Let a single shop or retail unit in a multi-tenant parade owned by the same landlord.
- suitable for Use Classes F.2, E, and 'Sui Generis'
- facilities may be shared with the tenants of other properties in the parade
- the property may or may not have additional rooms used by the tenant for other purposes, such as offices or storage
The document includes:
- provision for service charge recovery
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
This lease does not cover additional space used by the tenant to live in. Choose Shop in parade with residential space instead.
Mixed use lease: shop in parade with residential space
Let a shop or other unit that has a flat or maisonette attached in which the tenant can live:
- suitable for Use Classes F.2, E, and 'Sui Generis'
- the premises are expected to be within a parade, but could be stand-alone - if not part of a parade, the relevant paragraphs can be deleted easily and obviously
- the shop may or may not have additional rooms used by the tenant for other purposes, such as offices or storage
The document includes:
- provision for a service charge
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
If provision for residential space not required, use Shop in parade.
Shop lease agreement
Let a self contained lock-up shop that does not require provisions for service charge recovery:
- suitable for Use Classes F.2, E, and 'Sui Generis'
- may be in a parade or detached
- may be retail space only, or may have other commercial premises attached
- includes a draft agreement for a security deposit
Restaurant lease agreement
Let a property with a commercial kitchen such as a café, delicatessen, restaurant or fast food outlet:
- food could be consumed on- or off-premises
- suitable where part of the space is also used as offices
The agreement includes:
- options for rent review and for assignment
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
- a schedule covering kitchen and cooking equipment
This agreement does not cover additional space let for residential use by the tenant. For that, see Shop in parade with residential space or Pub or restaurant with flat over.
Lease agreement: pub or restaurant with flat over
Let a pub or licensed restaurant that has a flat or maisonette above for occupation by the tenant and his/her family.
- the premises may be detached or connected
The agreement includes:
- provision for service charge recovery
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
Workshop lease agreement
Let a stand-alone light industrial unit such as a workshop, garage, barn, factory, hangar or warehouse for any purpose.
The leased premises should not share services with other properties.
There is no provision for a management or service charge.
Car park lease agreement
Use this agreement specifically for letting any land used for parking vehicles: whether temporary and informal, or permanent and formally marked.
The agreement includes:
- practical matters relating to the parking infrastructure on the land and how the park will be operated
- provision for existing buildings or items of plant (e.g. an office or a car wash)
- a draft agreement for a security deposit
Agreement to exclude security of tenure: set of forms
Agreement to exclude security of tenure whilst complying with the Regulatory Reform Regulations 2003.
Deed of variation of lease
A simple deed of variation between a landlord and a tenant to change the terms of any lease.
- vary as much or as little as you wish
- provides the structure in simple terms for you to insert the actual changes you want to make
- includes text for some of the most common reasons to use this document
Assignment of lease
Use this document to transfer a lease between two tenants:
- suitable for use either in a stand-alone deal, or as part of a larger transaction such as a business sale
- consent from the landlord is required
We are happy to answer any questions you have. Arrange for us to call you.
If the document isn’t right for your circumstances for any reason, just tell us and we’ll refund you in full immediately.
We avoid legal terminology unless necessary. Plain English makes our documents easy to understand, easy to edit and more liklely to be accepted.
You don’t need legal knowledge to use our documents. We explain what to edit and how in the guidance notes included at the end of the document.
We offer free support by email in respect of editing the document. You can also use our Document Review Service if you want to our legal team to check that the document will do as you intend.
Our documents comply with the latest relevant law. Our lawyers regularly review how new law affects each document in our library.
Introduction
In a lease, the business of the tenant is less important than the type of property being let. So our agreements differ with each other through the inclusion or exclusion of terms relating to features of the building, such as those dealing with rights to display signs, rather than by who the tenant may be.
Choose the right lease agreement by selecting the one whose description most closely matches that of your premises.
The law in these lease agreements
These agreements create leases as defined in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (which has since been updated 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
- (where relevant) 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.
Who should draft the lease agreement?
Traditionally, it is the landlord who puts their draft to his proposed tenant. As the owner of the property or the land they can decide the terms on which they let it.
Statute law redresses this imbalance of power to some extent. However, our leases been drawn to prefer the interest of the landlord rather than the tenant.
Terms included in every document
A lease contains many terms. We mention here only those few about which you are most likely to be concerned. If you want more precise information as to the contents of a particular document, please ask us.
We provide the words to include or exclude terms relating to the following in every lease:
- guarantor provision
- transfer or assignment to another party
- sub-letting forbidden
- inclusion of a break clause for premature termination by the tenant
- options for rent reviews
- opt-out of Sections 24-28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. These sections provide a device whereby a landlord can be sure of getting his premises back when the term expires.
- an extensive menu of tenants' covenants to protect every aspect of the landlord's interest
These are full agreements, drawn to a higher standard than most solicitors would provide. Despite the breadth of options we provide, editing is straightforward, regardless of whether you have prior experience or not of this type of legal agreement.
We provide extensive drafting notes explaining each paragraph, and we send you a guide on how to deal generally with editing and completion.
We also sell a second version of most leases, for professional property developers, solicitors and surveyors. Each contains some additional paragraphs covering more technical points, such as a draft authorised guarantee agreement and a draft agreement for a security deposit.
Registration
Unless otherwise stated, every lease is for a term for any period up to and including seven years. Provided the term is seven years or less, it does not need to be registered at the Land Registry.
Leases over seven years must be registered and stamp duty land tax will apply.
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