Go straight to these seven
Term and break rights. Rent review mechanism and whether it is upward-only. Service charge scope and whether it is capped. Repairing obligation — full repairing and insuring shifts far more cost than most tenants model. Alienation, meaning whether you can assign or sublet. Reinstatement at expiry. And the guarantee or deposit, and what releases it.
The wording to push on
Ask for the service charge to exclude capital replacement of plant that was already at end of life when you arrived. Ask for reinstatement to be measured against a photographic schedule of condition taken at the start, attached to the lease. Ask for the rent review to be to the higher of open market and indexation only if you are also getting a rent-free period that pays for it.
Need this applied to a real deal?
Send us the asset and we will tell you, plainly, whether it holds up.
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