Landlord or Tenant Commercial Renewals

Commercial leases are drafted in all manner of ways.  Unfortunately, sometimes they are drafted rather poorly because solicitors are not involved.  This can make lease renewals risky.

Whether you are the tenant or landlord, commercial leases always set out the terms under which you occupy or let your commercial property.  On signing a lease renewal at the end of the old lease, you can renegotiate the new lease terms to suit both parties.

It is crucial when it comes to lease renewal time that solicitors adequately protect both parties’ positions.  The consequences can be dire if not handled by a professional.

When considering a commercial lease renewal, you will need to know which type of lease you have.  We will determine this for you by looking to see if you have a lease with, or without “security of tenure”.  This defines how we deal with your lease renewal.

Security of tenure is a right to automatically renew the lease at the end of the term of the old lease if the lease is granted under the Landlord & Tenant Act.  The 1954 Act provides that the old lease will automatically have security of tenure unless the old lease has explicitly been excluded from the protection of the 1954 Act.

This means that the tenant can, in most cases, force the landlord to give them a new lease at the end of the term of the old lease.  However, if your old lease has an exclusion clause within it that states the lease is contracted out of the 1954 Act, it will not have security of tenure.

If you do not have security of tenure, your old lease will end on the term end date specified in the lease.  If you are the landlord, you may be prepared to offer your tenant a new lease, but you are not obliged to do so.  Therefore, in these cases, the lease renewal process is up to the landlord.

Commercial leases with security of tenure have an automatic right to a lease renewal at the end of the term of the old lease, often becoming contentious in nature.  The landlord can only refuse a new lease if one of the grounds under the 1954 Act apply.  These include, for example, non-payment of rent.