Specialist Business Property Lawyers
Our Commercial Property solicitors understands that if you’re involved in acquiring, selling or letting commercial property, either as owner, occupier, investor or developer, you need reliable, expert and independent advice.
Our teams work closely with our clients including both large and small businesses and other property professionals, such as your accountant, surveyor, planner or commercial agent. Whether it’s commercial property conveyancing involving a business freehold, or you are negotiating a new lease on premises, our experienced business dispute solicitors can help.
From our 4 offices in Salisbury, Andover and Fordingbridge our team handle a wide range of size of projects both locally throughout Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset and further afield – from the renewal of simple shop leases to the creation of large residential developments.
Need specialist commercial property solicitors? Call us on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544. Initial legal advice on the phone is always FREE.
Your commercial property deal – how we can help
Our property solicitors can help you a wide range of commercial real estate transactions in landlord and tenant issues including :
- Agricultural property and tenancies, and farm sales and purchases.
Click here to read more about our agricultural and rural property team
- Business sales involving aspects of commercial property
Click here to read more about how are business sale solicitors can help you
- Commercial property disputes – including debt recovery for unpaid rent, service charges and ground rent, commercial eviction and forfeiture.
Click here to read more about forfeiture of a commercial lease
Click here to read more about commercial property rent arrears
- Drafting, negotiating, renewing and assigning business leases
Click here to read more about Commercial Lease Agreements
- Investment sales and purchases.
- Joint venture advice, including drafting JV and partnership agreements, company formation and advice on corporate structures.
Click here to read more about joint ventures and partnership agreements
- Landlord and tenant issues, including landlord consents.
Click here to read more about how our property team support residential and commercial landlords.
- Loan Agreements, commercial mortgages and other development funding advice
- Options
Click here to read more about Purchase Lease Options
- Residential land development and plot sales
- Sale and purchase of commercial property
Click here to find out more about how our Commercial Property Conveyancing Solicitors can help you
- Site acquisition , including the use of property overage agreements
Our team regularly deal with a very wide range of commercial property – which can include anything from offices and shops to industrial units, commercial trading estates, retail and leisure developments, GP surgeries, pubs, hotels, restaurants and mixed use schemes.
Our Specialist Team for Property Investors
We are heavily involved in the property investor community – and as a result have built a specialist investment team to cover all aspects of property investment in both residential and commercial property for both companies and private individuals with active portfolios.
Click here to find out more about how our specialist property investment team can help you.
Make sure that you discover problems before, not after, signing your lease
Getting the right advice from a specialist commercial property solicitor before signing a commercial lease is critical. Due diligence is essential – and part of that due diligence will be undertaken by your solicitor who will have a comprehensive look at the lease and identify potential problems –on issues as basic as whether the Landlord actually has the power to grant your lease.
However, a surprising number of businesses do sign up to often lengthy leases and considerable long-term commitment and obligations without getting legal advice. That can prove an extremely expensive mistake. Property disputes can prove very costly.
Heads of agreement – why they can be so useful in your commercial property deal
When it comes to purchase, sale or lease of any commercial property, having a non-binding document setting out the basic terms of the deal is often very useful. And this kind of document is often called a “heads of agreement” – or “heads of terms” or even “letter of intent”.
The critical thing about a heads of agreement is that it’s not normally legally binding – unless it’s adopted under a binding contract. But do watch out. It’s possible that if the heads of agreement contains language which explicitly sets out an intention for the contract to be binding, you could find yourself stuck with it. That’s why it’s really important to have an experienced commercial property solicitor involved at an early stage.
Heads of agreement for commercial property transaction normally include details of the following:
- the buyer
- the seller
- the property address
- details of the property
- the purchase price and any further information about payment
- any special conditions
- the planned date for completion
Sometimes, the landlord’s surveyor or letting agent will prepare the draft heads of terms. But given that they are not binding, and unless the lease is a very expensive one, the parties, if they have sufficient experience, often draft them themselves. Solicitors for the landlord and tenant can then negotiate these as necessary.
Our Approach
We take a practical and commercial approach aimed at helping you complete your commercial property deals quickly, with confidence, and with value for money.
Through building a close individual working relationship with our clients, our experienced commercial property team aim to understand their businesses and their ambitions.
By recognising these key objectives we make sure that we provide balanced clear commercial advice and a truly personal service.
Whether you run your own business or are looking to start a new business, we can actively lift the burden of dealing with the legal issues of your commercial property – giving you more time to focus on building a profitable business.
Our commercial property solicitors can see you in our Salisbury, Andover, Fordingbridge or Amesbury offices. We act for business clients across Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset and nationwide – meeting face-to-face or taking instructions by email, video call and phone.
Agreeing the terms of your lease
If you’re looking to enter a business tenancy, then once the heads of terms are signed, it’s then usually left to the landlord’s solicitor to draft the lease. Key terms and conditions usually include the following:
· Break clause, allowing either party to end the lease early and the process for this
· The level of rent and when it should be paid
· Repairing and insuring obligations
· Service charges, including whether these are capped
· The length of the lease
· The process for reviewing the rent
· Use of the premises
· Whether alterations will be permitted
· Whether assignment or sub-letting are allowed and, if so, how this will be done
· Whether the lease will give security of tenure
While the heads of terms may deal with many of these points, there may still need to be some negotiations.
Having an experienced commercial lease solicitor to represent you is important. Some of the clauses can leave business tenants, in particular, with significant future obligations. And that’s why you need sound legal advice. For example, as a tenant, you may be agreeing to stump up for major repairs needed to the property, such as a new roof. Your solicitor will be able to take steps to avoid this, but it is essential to limit this type of liability as far as possible.
Lease renewal
Renewing a lease is usually a signal to renegotiate terms, either directly with your landlord or through the courts. This may not necessarily work in your favour, so you should definitely talk to a solicitor at this point. A solicitor will also help you to minimise the risk of suddenly finding yourself without premises when the lease expires.
As a business tenant, you are usually entitled to renew for a further term, or even to remain in the premises after the expiry date (“holding over”). However, a lease extension may not be guaranteed, so you need a specialist commercial property lawyer to make sure you’re not losing out unnecessarily.
Termination of the lease
Of course, there are times when you actively want to vacate the premises at the end of the lease, perhaps to move somewhere bigger. You can also surrender your lease before the expiry date, usually by paying the landlord a premium.
In fact, ending a lease can be quite a costly business – especially if you get it wrong. If the premises aren’t left in exactly the condition set out in the lease, your landlord could serve you with a “schedule of dilapidations” and a hefty repair bill. Again, you need an experienced property solicitor on board to make sure you’re fully aware of your obligations and that you don’t pay over the odds when you terminate your lease.
Click here to read more about Commercial Lease Termination
Defaulting on lease terms
Whether it’s by accident or design, failure to comply with the terms of your lease can have serious consequences. Defaulting on your lease gives your landlord the right to cancel the lease and to take back possession of the premises, through a court order or by physically locking you out of the building. This would obviously be disastrous for your business. Good commercial lease solicitors will help you to avoid defaulting on your lease terms in the first place, and, if worse comes to worst, will be able to fight your corner to ensure that the landlord follows the correct procedure and to advise you on what countermeasures you need to take.
Your commercial lease is too important to leave to chance. Investing in specialist legal advice from specialist commercial property solicitors now can save you a lot of money in the future.
Commercial property disputes
Commercial leases are complex. And although there is wide scope for disputes, the most common areas that our commercial property lawyers see relate to breaches of the lease itself, arrears of rent and service charges, the process for terminating or renewing a commercial tenancy and dilapidations.
If you are involved in a commercial lease dispute with your landlord or tenant, you should speak to an experienced commercial lease solicitor as soon as possible.
If you ask us to represent you, we can intervene on your behalf to try and resolve the problem before the situation escalates.
We can write to the other side setting out your legal position. Where necessary, we will negotiate robustly on your behalf.
If an agreement cannot be found, then we will prepare a strong case to be heard by an arbitrator or dealt with in another form of alternative dispute resolution. If at all possible we will try to keep the matter away from the courts – because legal costs in these kind of property disputes can quickly rise, and few people want to get involved in the unnecessary stress of a drawn out court battle.
Dealing with a disagreement early on usually means that it’s more likely to be resolved relatively quickly and without racking up huge legal bill.
Click here to read more about how our team can help you with commercial property disputes.
