Commercial Property Advice for Tenants

Advice for tenants and commercial property leases

Our commercial property solicitors based in Brighton & Hove, East Sussex (Uckfield), and West Kent (Hadlow) work with tenants of all shapes and sizes. We specialise in supporting large businesses and retailers who require comprehensive legal advice on how to secure commercial property that best supports their wider business objectives.

We also provide a Quick Report service specially designed for smaller tenants looking for a cost-effective solution to having a solicitor review their proposed commercial property lease. Contact our team for more information about Quick Report and to see if this could be a good option for you.

Securing the right lease for tenants

Our property solicitors are well versed in guiding tenants, of any size, through the process of securing the lease that is fair and meets all their required practical needs. Whilst we always strongly recommend every tenant instructing us to undertake full due diligence for every transaction, we know that there are instances where this is not required, practically or financially, and therefore we offer a range of due diligence options tailored to your individual circumstance.

For a typical transaction we provide a full and diligent review of your lease, advise you on the terms and any suggested amendments in light of industry standard practice, to allow you to make well-informed decisions about your lease.

The key considerations for tenants

• Security of tenure – whether you will have the right to a new lease at the expiry of the term of the existing lease, on the same terms.
• Length of term and market rent – Is the term sufficiently long and for fair market rent?
• Use of the property – Is the permitted use of the property adequate for your business? Is it too restrictive?
• Planning Permissions – Does the property have the requisite planning permission for the permitted use you require?

It is important that if your lease has rent review provisions or break dates contained within it, that you carefully read these sections and make note of the notice periods in good time. We would always advise in the case of break dates, that you contact Rix & Kay to prepare serving notice in good time prior to the actual notice period, for example, if you need to serve your Notice to break the lease by the 25 March, we would advise liaising with Rix & Kay to prepare the Notice in January or February. The break notice must be served specifically as detailed in your lease to be valid which is why we recommend seeking legal advice on the same.

Commercial Property expertise

• Entering into and renewing commercial property leases
• Subletting and assignment of commercial property leases
• Rent deposits
• Deeds of Surrender
• Licences for alterations
• Dilapidations claims
• Short-term agricultural tenancies

“The team at Rix & Kay is led by managing partner Richard Cripps. Cripps is regarded for his experience in the agricultural sector and also acts on a range of residential and commercial development projects and portfolio acquisitions for a variety of clients”.

“Richard Cripps – commercially aware and no nonsense, concise advice”.

Industry peers praise Rix & Kay in the latest edition of Legal 500