For businesses, landlords and tenants: commercial leases, buying and selling business premises, and buying and selling homes in England and Wales.
We act for businesses, landlords and tenants on commercial property, including leases of offices, shops and industrial units and the purchase and sale of business premises and investment property. We also act for business owners and their families buying and selling homes. On each matter we check the title, searches and documents, report to you in writing on anything that affects how you can use the property or what it will cost you, and take the transaction through to completion and registration.
Commercial leases make up much of this work. Before you agree heads of terms or sign a lease, we check the terms that decide what the premises will cost over the whole term: the rent and how it is reviewed, the service charge, who is responsible for repairs, any break clause and its conditions, restrictions on use, alterations and subletting, and whether the lease gives the tenant a right to renew when it ends. When a lease is coming to an end, we advise landlords and tenants on renewal, break notices and dilapidations claims.
When you buy commercial premises, we review the title and plans, raise enquiries with the seller, order and report on the searches, check any existing tenancies if the property is let, and deal with Stamp Duty Land Tax, or Land Transaction Tax in Wales, and registration after completion. When you sell, we prepare the contract, the title documents and replies to enquiries early, so that the buyer's solicitors have what they need at the start. The steps on the sale or purchase of a home are similar, and we tell you at the outset which searches and reports your property needs.
To start a purchase or a lease, send us the agreed heads of terms or the agent's memorandum of sale, the details of the other side's solicitors, your target dates, and details of how the purchase will be funded. For a sale, we need any title deeds you hold, existing leases, planning documents and certificates for work carried out at the property. We confirm in writing what the work includes, our fee and the likely disbursements, such as search fees and Land Registry fees, before we start.
The work we do most often in this area. If your matter is not listed, ask us.
Reviewing and negotiating heads of terms and leases for offices, shops, workshops and industrial units, including rent reviews, service charges, repairing obligations, break clauses, rent deposits and personal guarantees, so that you know what the premises will cost over the term before you sign.
Drafting leases, rent deposit deeds, guarantees and licences to assign, sublet or carry out alterations, and advising on whether a lease should be excluded from the tenant's statutory right to renew, including the notice and declaration procedure that must be followed.
Purchases and sales of offices, shops, industrial units and investment property, freehold or leasehold: title and search reports, enquiries, the contract, exchange and completion, followed by the Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land Transaction Tax return and registration at HM Land Registry.
Advice for landlords and tenants on renewing a business lease under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, serving and responding to renewal notices, exercising a break clause so that it takes effect, and dilapidations claims when a lease ends.
Sales and purchases of houses and flats, freehold and leasehold, for business owners and their families. We report to you in writing on the title, the searches and, for a flat, the lease, and keep you informed as exchange and completion dates are agreed.
Transfers of property between individuals, companies and trustees, and advice on the legal consequences of owning property personally, jointly, through a company or in trust, working alongside your accountant, who advises on the tax.
We tell you early whether there is a problem to deal with and what your realistic options are, with the likely cost of each.
An experienced solicitor does the work on your matter and stays your point of contact until it is finished.
We keep the matter moving and update you at each stage: what has happened, what happens next and when.
Usually, unless the right was excluded before the lease was granted. Under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a tenant occupying premises for its business can generally stay on when the lease ends and request a new lease, and the landlord can oppose renewal only on grounds set out in the Act. For a fixed-term lease, landlord and tenant can agree to exclude this protection, but only by completing a notice and declaration procedure before the tenant is committed to the lease. We check whether a lease is protected before you negotiate a renewal or an exit.
Check the length of the term, the rent and how it will be reviewed, any break option and its conditions, who is responsible for repairs, the service charge, whether a rent deposit or personal guarantee is required, and whether the lease will exclude your right to renew. Heads of terms are usually marked subject to contract and are not legally binding, and the lease is then drafted from them, so points agreed at that stage are harder to change later. Send them to us before you agree them if you can.
A break clause allows the landlord, the tenant or both to end a lease early on a specified date or after a notice period. Break rights are often conditional, for example on the tenant having paid all the rent due or giving vacant possession, and if a condition is not met, the break may not take effect and the lease continues. Before a notice is served, we check the notice period, how and on whom the notice must be served, and each condition, and plan the steps needed to meet them.
Dilapidations are the repairs, reinstatement and redecoration a tenant must carry out under its lease, and the claim a landlord makes when a tenant leaves without doing them. The damages a landlord can recover for breach of a repairing obligation cannot exceed the reduction in the value of its interest in the property, which can be less than the cost of the work. A court protocol sets out how claims should be made and answered. We advise tenants before the lease ends, and landlords and tenants once a claim is made.
Yes, if the price is above the threshold for non-residential property, and the grant of a new lease can also give rise to tax based on the rent and any premium. The return must usually be filed and the tax paid within 14 days of completion. In Wales, Land Transaction Tax applies instead, with its own rates and deadlines. We calculate the tax, submit the return and pay the tax from the funds you provide.
Before any work starts, we write to you setting out what we will do, what is not included and what it will cost, as a fixed fee or an estimate. If the work changes, we agree any change in cost with you in writing first.
One of our solicitors, Robert Festenstein or Alon, handles your matter and is your contact throughout. The letter confirming your instructions names the solicitor responsible.
Send us a short summary using the enquiry form, with the names of the other people or businesses involved and any deadline. We check for conflicts of interest and then arrange a call with one of our solicitors.
Tell us what has happened and we'll arrange a call with one of our solicitors.
