Clever/useful terms to be included in a commercial lease

buzz11

I'm helping a relation in the letting of a shop unit i.e. they are the landlord.

We're reviewing the draft lease his solicitor prepared and all is in order but from reading lots of sample leases on google, there are some clever terms which I've come across and wonder would anyone else have some useful terms?

When I say clever, I'm not trying to pull a fast one or anything like that, I mean intelligent useful terms that you don't always see in a lease.

One that I came across was a term requiring the tenant to "install and maintain an intruder alarm to current I.S. standards" OK there would probably need to be discussions with prospective tenants about the cost to install but at lease the lease specifies that the alarm must be maintained.

Any others that people have come across?

Mr. Incognito

Let me get this straight.

You have a lease prepared by a solicitor and you want to amend it with stuff you googled just because it sounds clever.

You do realise that you will have to pay the solicitor to incorporate these amendments.

Do you propose giving this back to the solicitor for final review or are you going to simply drop in your own additional clauses that you think sound clever and give it to the tenant.

buzz11

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Let me get this straight.

You have a lease prepared by a solicitor and you want to amend it with stuff you googled just because it sounds clever.

You do realise that you will have to pay the solicitor to incorporate these amendments.

Do you propose giving this back to the solicitor for final review or are you going to simply drop in your own additional clauses that you think sound clever and give it to the tenant.

I don't want to amend what the solicitor has written or 'drop anything in', I simply want to discuss with him additional lease terms that he has not included which may prove extremely useful. He can then include it in the lease.

Mr. Incognito

Feel free.

Be prepared to pay him for his time for this and work away.

drunkmonkey

If things go tits up I can walk away, usually agree with the owner first before putting in such a clause might not be possible depending on who owns it.

Victor

Why specifically an intruder alarm? How about a fire alarm? Security doors / windows?

buzz11 wrote: »

We're reviewing the draft lease his solicitor prepared and all is in order

Note that this may be a standard contract in widespread use and any deviation may be questioned and affect the amount of rent people are willing to pay.

but from reading lots of sample leases on google, there are some clever terms which I've come across and wonder would anyone else have some useful terms?

When you say "clever terms", do you mean clever expressions or contractual terms, as in "terms and conditions"? Terms are the 'headlines' of a contract - parties, property, price, etc. An intruder alarm would not be a term.

One that I came across was a term requiring the tenant to "install and maintain an intruder alarm to current I.S. standards"

What are those standards (there may be several)? Are those standards current practice? Are their better or more appropriate standards?

OK there would probably need to be discussions with prospective tenants about the cost to install

Who will own the alarm system if the lease ends at whatever stage? Is it something that would be better provided by the landlord?

but at lease the lease specifies that the alarm must be maintained.

What does "maintained" mean? Do you mean monitored? Do you mean annual(?) inspections? Do you mean updated in accordance with standards for the duration of the lease?