Commercial Leases Solicitors Essex
Entering into a commercial lease can shape the future of your business for years to come. Whether you are taking new premises, renewing existing space, or managing a landlord relationship, careful legal advice helps protect your position and avoid costly surprises later.
Are you confident your lease truly protects your interests?
Commercial leases are rarely straightforward. They often involve long-term commitments, detailed obligations, and limited room for error. Many clients come to us feeling uncertain about the risks they may be taking on or worried about committing too quickly under commercial pressure.
Our role is to slow things down where needed, explain the legal position clearly, and ensure you understand the consequences before you commit. We focus on helping you make informed decisions, without unnecessary complexity or delay.
You are negotiating a lease for new business premises and want clarity on rent, repair obligations, break clauses, and flexibility before signing anything binding.
Your lease is coming to an end and you are unsure whether to renew, renegotiate terms, or exercise rights under the Landlord and Tenant Act.
You are being asked to move quickly by a landlord, lender, or incoming tenant and want to understand where you can negotiate and where risks may sit.
You are concerned about service charges, repair liabilities, rent reviews, or compliance obligations during the term of the lease.
You want the lease drafted or reviewed carefully to reduce the risk of disputes or unexpected liabilities later.
Speak to our team
Commercial Leases Services
We support clients at every stage of the commercial leasing process, from early negotiations through to completion and beyond. Our advice is tailored to your objectives and the realities of your business.
Advising landlords and tenants on new leases, ensuring terms are clearly drafted and aligned with commercial expectations from the outset.
Guidance on statutory and non-statutory renewals, including negotiations under the Landlord and Tenant Act and securing favourable updated terms.
Advising on assigning leases, varying existing terms, and managing consent requirements with landlords and lenders.
Support with interpreting lease provisions, resolving disagreements, and ensuring charges are properly calculated and recoverable.
Helping you understand break options, conditions, and risks to ensure flexibility is preserved where possible.
Reducing the risk of future disputes through careful drafting, and providing advice where issues arise during the lease term.
Why choose Mullis & Peake
Commercial leases require both legal precision and commercial awareness. Our approach is measured, practical, and focused on protecting your business without overcomplicating the process.
Clear, plain-English advice that explains what matters and what can wait
Experience across sectors, acting for landlords, tenants, and investors
Proportionate support, focused on cost control and risk management
Local insight, with a strong understanding of the Essex commercial property market
Frequently asked questions
The options available to you will depend upon the contents of your lease but there are four main methods. The first method would be to exercise your break clause if you have one. The second method would be to try to reach an agreement with your landlord to allow you to surrender your lease early. However, they are under no obligation to do this, and you may be required to pay a premium in exchange for early surrender. The third method would be to assign or transfer your lease to a third party; usually this requires the priority and consent of your landlord. The fourth method would be to sublet your property to your own tenant. Again, usually this requires prior consent. There are pros and cons to each method and the best thing you can do is seek advice from a solicitor to confirm which methods are available to you.
The first thing to check is what are the dates in your break clause, when is your break date and how much notice do you need to give in advance. The second thing to check is the method of service, how do you need to serve that notice on your landlord. The third thing to check is, are there any conditions attached to the break, do you need to make any payments to the landlord, do you need to give vacant possession on the break date. There are likely to be a number of conditions which need to be satisfied so it’s important to seek legal advice well in advance before seeking to exercise your break.
When entering a new lease there are certain things that you need to consider when agreeing the lease terms. The first thing is the length of the lease, is the term of the lease suitable for you. You also need to consider the rent that’s payable, whether VAT is payable on the rent and any rent reviews. You may also be asked to pay a rent deposit to the landlord as security throughout the lease term. You need to consider the permitted use of the lease, are you able to use the premises for your business. You need to consider service charge payments, are they affordable, are they reasonable, and repair. What are your repair obligations under the lease, quite often commercial premises are fully repairing and that’s quite an onerous obligation on a tenant. Sometimes you may also wish to consider whether you can get out of the lease early, is there a break provision. If not, can you sell the lease or can you underlet it to somebody else.
A mechanism in the lease by which the rent as the name suggests is reviewed. Rent is usually reviewed on an upwards‑only basis which means that if no increase is agreed on review, then the rent will remain the same. Rent can be reviewed by reference to market rent, turnover rent, index link, or sometimes a combination of all of them. There is a trend towards trying to get downward rent reviews although most landlords are resistant to that because it could have an adverse effect on the property value.
Sections 24 to 28 of the landlord and tenant act, 1954, provide business tenants occupying premises for the purpose of their business with security of tenure rights. This essentially means that such tenants can simply hold over or remain in the premises at the end of their lease term, or they can seek a new lease from their landlord on substantially the same terms as the existing lease. There are exceptions, a landlord can refuse to grant a new lease to a tenant on one or more of the seven statutory grounds for a refusal and they include the tenant’s persistent non‑payment of rent, or breach of other terms of the lease, or most commonly the landlord wanting to occupy the premises themselves or wishing to demolish the premises.
Get in touch with our Commercial Leases team
If you are considering a commercial lease or dealing with issues under an existing one, we are here to help you understand your position and move forward with confidence.
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