Commercial Property Lease Renewals

Like your commercial premises and want to stay at the end of your lease? Whether or not you have a right to renew depends on whether your lease was contracted inside or outside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

What if my lease is outside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954?

Most small leases in London are ‘outside the act’, which means that a tenant does not have the right to a new lease. If you wish to stay, it is up to the landlord whether she will grant a new lease.

If the premises are still suitable for your business, there is an advantage to you in avoiding the disruption of having to move and there is also an advantage to the landlord of not having a ‘void’, during which they have no tenant to pay rent and rates.

What if my lease is inside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954?

If your lease is inside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 you have a right to a new lease, which the landlord has to offer at a demonstrably ‘fair rent’.

A process of professional arbitration should enable you to continue in occupation if you so wish.

When should you start lease renewal negotiations?

If you leave negotiating a new lease until the last minute, you will have reduced your alternative options if you can’t come to an agreement with the landlord.

We therefore recommend opening this conversation at a minimum of 6 months before the end of your lease, preferably 12 months.

Negotiating the new lease

Unlike a rent review when the rent normally only goes up, the rent can go down with a new lease. We advise working with a tenant-friendly surveyor such as WB&A in your dealings with the landlord.

Although you may well be skilled in negotiating other aspects of your business, we can use evidence of recent deals in the area from both our own consultancy and comparable evidence from our other contacts in the local area. Using this knowledge of the market and of the lease terms that will benefit you, we can negotiate the best deal on your behalf.

Normally we will also take clients to view other suitable premises so you can see exactly what your money would buy you elsewhere.

Examples of lease renewals regotiated

Good examples of our work in this area are the lease renewals for long term client Forma 5 where we twice negotiated on their behalf to stay in the same showroom at the end of their lease, saving substantial amounts of money for them on both occasions.