Question about leases

yinhong

Hi,

The charity I work for is about to open it's first charity shop. We need to set down a lease, and I've been asked to attend the meeting but I've no experience in this area at all.

Could someone help guide me:

What needs to be included in a lease? Do I need a lawyer to help draw one up or could I just print a template from somewhere online (any suggestions would be welcome), and fill in the details?

Flat_Eric

yinhong wrote: »

Hi,

The charity I work for is about to open it's first charity shop. We need to set down a lease, and I've been asked to attend the meeting but I've no experience in this area at all.

Could someone help guide me:

What needs to be included in a lease? Do I need a lawyer to help draw one up or could I just print a template from somewhere online (any suggestions would be welcome), and fill in the details?

How long are you proposing to have the Lease for ?

yinhong

About 3 years.

Flat_Eric

(I think) your proposed Landlord will decide on the form of Lease. If it is a Lease of just 3 years then it would seem sensible for the Law Society form of Lease to be used. However you could find your proposed Landlord wants to use a 50 page all singing all dancing Lease...

I'd recommend getting appropriate legal advice so that the Charity's best interests are protected. Its a bit of a minefield so best to ensure everything is just so and as you want it to be.

Ps the link I have given above is for guidance only. don't go spending your money because there are different forms of the Law Society Lease and you don't want to buy the wrong one ! Assuming your Landlord has a solicitor, they should be drawing up the Lease for your consideration.

InsideInsurance

Commercial lettings are much more complex than residential and the level of statutory protection much lower. Unless you are very comfortable with interpreting contractual terminology then it is probably worth while investing in professional legal review if after doing your own checks everything looks ok.

Haarlem

Is the Charity a "Company Limited by Guarantee"?

If not are the Trustees aware of the financial obligations they are letting themselves into if the charity runs out of money.

Savvy_Sue

I'll just add what some of the pitfalls might be ...

You need to know what your obligations are wrt repairs, and returning the property at the end of the lease, and giving up the lease early.

A charity DH was involved with were leasing a warehouse, which was proving too expensive. I don't know all the details, but the landlord produced a list of (very costly) repairs which they expected the charity to carry out before the property was handed back. Fortunately the charity had taken photos at the start of the lease and could demonstrate that they were leaving it in better shape than they'd taken it on, but it took negotiation ...

This isn't something you can skimp on. However you may be able to get some pro bono advice which you might be able to rely on.

yinhong

Thank you everyone above for your advice and good points. I'm still not certain on the right path to take, but will research more with your points in mind.

One of the online examples I found was this - http://www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/commercial-lease-agreement/index.aspx?#s=QSGeneralInfo&g=QGLeaseType - seems to be quite a comprehensive form but I need to look more in depth into it.

Thanks again.

bris

If you are taking on the shop why are you drawing up a lease? The LL will have a lease for you to study (take proper legal advice on this) and sign.

The lease will at first hand be a full repairing and insuring lease with lots of T&C's all in the LL's favour. This is why the proper legal advice is so important, they can omit and negotiate terms that are in your interests.

A commercial lease is a minefield, do not even try and do this yourself.