Practical Tips for a Tenant to Terminate a Business Lease
March 16, 2017

There are practical considerations and issues that tenants ought to consider when a Landlord is threatening to terminate your business lease.

• Check the lease. This is to establish whether the landlord is entitled to terminate the lease and if so, under what circumstances. Usually the landlord is entitled to forfeit the lease for rent which remains unpaid for 21 days or more, insolvency and/or breach of covenants.
• If you are aware of any breaches of covenant, you shall endeavour to remedy these within a reasonable period of time to prevent the landlord from taking any further action.
• If breaches are not remedied promptly then the lease may entitle the landlord to remedy the breaches on your behalf which will result in you incurring more costs. For example, often the Landlord may be entitled to charge you for any surveyors and legal and professional costs including if there are any breaches.
• If there are any rent arrears, try and agree a repayment plan with the Landlord for the payment of arrears. Under the terms of the lease the Landlord will usually be entitled to charge interest on any rent which is paid late.
• If there is a rent deposit, check the terms under which the Landlord can draw down against the monies held in the deposit. This may buy you some time and may deter the landlord from seeking to forfeit the Lease. The terms of the rent deposit will usually require you to top up the deposit lodged with the Landlord in the event of there being any withdrawals.

Seek legal advice urgently as remedies available to the Landlord can be very drastic indeed and can be very costly to obtain re-entry. For further information and advice, please contact Jennifer White on 020 8313 1300 020 8313 1300 or email her on jennifer.white@marsons.co.uk.