How long for premises lease contracts

Kersh

Agreed to rent a premises 4 weeks ago, EA says he is waiting on the deeds so he can send contracts out to my solicitor, does it normally take this long??
Why does he need the deeds, we are only leasing short term??

Darragh29

Kersh wrote:

Agreed to rent a premises 4 weeks ago, EA says he is waiting on the deeds so he can send contracts out to my solicitor, does it normally take this long??
Why does he need the deeds, we are only leasing short term??

Hi Kersh,

I'm going to give you a flavour for what happened in my own situation with regard to renting a premises and hopefully you will be able to take something from it... I left my job in March 2005 to start up my own business. I saw a place I liked in April 2005 and went to the Estate Agent. I knew it would take some time to do the paperwork, after all, I was getting into a 25 year lease with a 10 year break so it had to be done right. It was October 2005 before the landlord came up with the necessary paperwork and I could sign the lease and go at it.

This is one of the big mistakes I made that has me no longer trading now. I had a fixed amount of capital to start up and this was being eaten into every week between April and October. By the time I got into the premises, I had less than half the capital I started out with and I simply ran out of money less than 6 months into the business.

My advice to you is agree with the Estate Agent a date that you want to take possession of the building by, and tell him in writing that if you have not closed on or before that date, you will be walking away and MEAN IT and also tell him to tell his client (the landlord). 4-6 weeks is ample time to get the paperwork sorted, if it isn't sorted out then, it probably won't be sorted out for several months. Also I would say to you, don't commit yourself to just one property, so if the Estate Agent or the landord cannot come up with the goods in the agreed timeframe, that you have other options that you switch to, instead of having to go back to the drawing board and start all over again. I lacked the discipline to walk away when there was no progress, I was so frustrated with the delay that I just threw myself into it when I eventually did get the keys and I'm paying the price for it now, having to start up all over again because I didn't have the money I had initially to start up.

Nobody should put a property on the market to let if they haven't got the paperwork together and to hand. Next time I'm doing this which will be in a few months, I'll insist on a written undertaking that the landlord has his/her paperwork in order and is actually ready to lease a premises. If there has been a change of ownership on the premises in the last 5 years or anything like that, you could be looking at a major delay.

My best advice to you is that Estate Agents will mess you around if you let them, you have to stay in control of the situation with them and agree clear timeframes and if they are missed, then walk away politely but firmly and don't look back. Start-up capital is hard enough to come by and Esate Agents, Solicitors and Landlords will fu*k up your chances of ever starting up if you let them.

Finally, and this is the most important thing, when your solictor rings you to tell you the contracts are ready for signing, REVIEW YOUR BUSINESS PLAN ONE LAST TIME, ESPECIALLY THE FINANCES. If you are short somewhere because of a delay, do not proceed with signing unless you can either cut back somewhere and the plan still is viable, or else get the money from somewhere else. I'd go as far to say that you should get your accountant to lok over your financials before you sign, as you might be looking through rose tinted glasses as this stage.

Best of luck, but take no sh*te!

lomb

i suffered the same crap, 3 months to see contracts, i walked away as i found something else. wasters...
sorry to hear that darragh, i hope u were able to sublet the property? either that or it was leased to a linited company without a personal gauranttee? otherwise it would criple you to pay for 10 years. leases are not in the tenants favour..;

Nuttzz

on long leases dont forget the rent free peroid, its pretty standard on the 25 year lease

Darragh29

lomb wrote:

i suffered the same crap, 3 months to see contracts, i walked away as i found something else. wasters...
sorry to hear that darragh, i hope u were able to sublet the property? either that or it was leased to a linited company without a personal gauranttee? otherwise it would criple you to pay for 10 years. leases are not in the tenants favour..;

Hi Lomb, yeah am lucky that I have someone who will move in right away and am assigning lease to his company. Still a lot of hassle though all down to a landlord who was not ready to lease a property. Leant major major lesson here!

lomb

glad u found a way out, and lesson learnt also, landlords dont realise that tenants are up against a wall with time. solicitors, agents etc will all waste time also as u say and money in what is actually a very simple thing.
alot of people lose big time if their business fails and they cant reassign their long lease. could end up going bankrupt. imho ur always better leaseing in the name of a company and not giving a personal gaurantee. theres so much property out there now that u can name ur terms, especially on offices, industrial and sub prime retail.