Instrukt

Have a solicitor read your commercial lease before you sign it.

Send us a few details. We introduce you to an independent, SRA-regulated property solicitor who reviews the lease, flags what could cost you, and explains it in plain English.

Get a quoteHow it works

A quote first, from the solicitor, before any work startsNamed solicitor, SRA number shown up front

Draft lease: extract

4.2 Rent review

On each Review Date the Annual Rent shall be reviewed to the higher of the Annual Rent payable immediately before the Review Date and the open market rent1.

8.1 Tenant's break

The Tenant may end this Lease on the Break Date by giving not less than six months' written notice, provided that the Tenant has paid all sums due under this Lease2 and gives vacant possession of the whole of the Property3.

  1. Upward-only: your rent can go up at each review but never down. A new law will ban this in business leases. No start date is set yet, and it won't apply to a lease signed before it starts, so negotiate the clause now.
  2. One small unpaid amount, even a disputed service charge, would cancel your break. Ask for the condition to cover the basic rent only.
  3. A partition or a box of stock left behind can mean you haven't given vacant possession. Ask to give up occupation instead.
An illustration. Your solicitor's report covers your own lease, clause by clause.

What you get

A commercial lease is drafted by the landlord's solicitor, for the landlord. The report tells you where it leans against you, and what to ask for instead.

Plan 1: a row of shop units on Harbour Road. Unit 4 is edged red. The service corridor behind the units is hatched.PLAN 1Units 2 to 5, Harbour RoadNot to scale. Illustration.NService yardUnit 2Unit 3Unit 4Unit 5HARBOUR ROAD12
  1. Edged red is what you're renting. Check it matches what you're taking: the shopfront, the WC, any space at the back.
  2. Hatched areas are shared. The lease says what you can use them for and what you pay towards them.

  • The clauses that could cost you, worst first

    Rent reviews, break conditions, repairing obligations, service charges and anything unusual for a lease of this kind.

  • What each one means for your business

    In plain English, with what tends to happen in practice rather than what the clause says in theory.

  • Changes to ask for

    Suggested amendments you can send straight to the landlord or their agent, in the order worth fighting for.

What's in a commercial lease

Most of the risk sits in six parts of the lease. A review goes through each one and says what it means for your business.

  1. RentRent and rent reviewWhat you pay, and how it changes. Upward-only means it can rise at a review but never fall.
  2. BreakBreak clauseYour way out early, and the conditions that can cancel it if they aren't met exactly.
  3. RepairRepairWho fixes what. A full repairing lease can make you responsible for the structure.
  4. ServiceService chargeWhat you pay towards shared parts of the building, and whether it's capped.
  5. DealingsAssigning and sublettingWhether you can pass the lease on if you sell the business or need to move.
  6. RenewalSecurity of tenureWhether you can ask for a new lease at the end, under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

The dates that cost money

A lease runs to a timetable. Miss a notice deadline and you can lose a break or put a renewal at risk. A review picks these dates out before you sign.

  1. Year 0The lease starts
  2. Year 4½Last day to serve a break noticeSix months before the break date. Miss it and the break is gone.
  3. Year 5Break date and rent reviewConditions on the break must be met on the day.
  4. Years 9 to 9½1954 Act renewal noticesThe window for notices ending the tenancy on the term date: six to twelve months before it, if the lease has security of tenure.
  5. Year 10The term endsWith security of tenure the tenancy carries on until ended by notice, and the court application deadline then matters most.
An illustration: a ten-year lease with a tenant's break and a rent review at year five. Your lease's dates will differ.

How it works

  1. Tell us about the lease

    Two minutes on the enquiry form. No documents needed yet.

  2. Meet your solicitor

    We introduce you to an independent property solicitor, who quotes before you instruct.

  3. Send them the lease

    You instruct the solicitor directly and share the draft with them.

  4. Get your report

    A written review, then a call to talk through it before you sign.

Fees

The solicitor sets the fee and confirms it in writing before you instruct them. You pay them directly.

Services and fees
Lease review report

A written report on a draft lease, with suggested changes.

Quoted per lease
Lease renewal review

For a new lease replacing one you already hold, including what has changed.

Quoted per lease
Review and negotiation

The solicitor negotiates the lease with the landlord's solicitor for you.

Quoted per lease

Who you'll work with

Instrukt isn't a law firm. We work with independent property solicitors who are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

You'll know your solicitor's name and SRA number before you agree anything, and you contract with them directly. That means you have the protections that come with an SRA-regulated solicitor, including their complaints procedure, and we only introduce solicitors who hold professional indemnity insurance.

If the solicitor pays us anything, for the introduction or for our practice software, they must tell you before you instruct them. How we work and how we're paid

Questions

Got a draft lease on your desk?

Tell us about it and you'll have a quote from a named solicitor.

Get a quote