Lease on office

[tinman0]

Second question of the day.

This is probably a stupid question, but we've just been sent the new lease for our office (its actually the first lease cause they forgot to send it last year).

This sounds stupid - but do I get our solicitors to look through the lease before signing?

[RichBurley]

It does indeed sound stupid(!) What if the contract does not reflect what you want? What if you sign it, and become legally bound by the terms? It's a no brainer tbh; get it checked out.

Edited by RichBurley on Monday 26th March 11:45

[tinman0]

RichBurley said:

It does indeed sound stupid(!) What if the contract does not reflect what you want? What if you sign it, and become legally bound by the terms? It's a no brainer tbh; get it checked out.

i've read through it, and it looks quite straight forward. just wondering if there are gotchas in it that i wouldn't spot.

[The Londoner]

Length of lease?
Director's guarantees?
Any deposit to be paid?
How is deposit to be treated? Any interst of it?
Any options to break?
Does it give you security of tenure and the right to renew?
When does rent have to be paid?
Decorating obligations?
Any provision for rent review?
Have you got the ability to assign or sub-let?
Dilapidations at the end of the lease?
Permitted use?
Service charge contributions?
Any restrictions on hours or rights of access?

Etc etc

Get a solicitor to look at it, it'll be a few hundred squid vs a world of cost and pain later if something goes wrong.

[billsnemesis]

tinman0 said:

RichBurley said:

It does indeed sound stupid(!) What if the contract does not reflect what you want? What if you sign it, and become legally bound by the terms? It's a no brainer tbh; get it checked out.

i've read through it, and it looks quite straight forward. just wondering if there are gotchas in it that i wouldn't spot.

The main textbook on leases runs to five volumes and takes up nearly two feet of shelf space and it is full of bear traps and pitfalls

Yes you should get a solicitor to go through it

There are more "gotchas" in leases than you could shake a stick at. If I started listing them now I would still be going at Christmas