Commercial Property

SOLICITOR IN CHARGE: Mr T.P FitzPatrick

We act in relation to the buying and selling of all types of Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural property including Development land.

Hourly rate rather than fixed fees will apply. Please make an application for an estimate on the commercial sale & purchase quotation forms provided and in particular complete the further information section to enable us to give as good an estimate as possible . We may need to contact you on the telephone to discuss this further.

"Location, Location, Location"

This famous definition describes the most important matters to be taken into account when looking for new business premises.

Professionals may disagree. Accountants will wonder about the impact of exorbitant rent and outgoings on the profitability of a business. Surveyors may be concerned at the extent of the repairs to be done. Solicitors will consider the whole package that is on offer. The package needs to be marketable, commercial and fit for the occupier's purposes.

Sometimes, businesses take a year or more to move locations. They find premises which seem to be perfect. When they look at the Lease, they find that costs and other burdens make the premises wholly impractical. Perhaps Landlords are not always aware of how Leases affect marketability.
In all business premises, planning considerations are vital. The permitted use may not be what the future occupier wants; or it may be what the occupier wants but the working hours may be restricted by the planning authority. Or there may be other conditions attached to the planning consent which interface with the business activities - one example is that the consent is restricted to a named business and another, more important in days when light industrial use is needed for farm buildings, is that the use must be associated with agriculture. The client needs to decide whether to go through the business of applying for a new, more useful, planning consent. As this will have more immediate benefit to the landowner than the client, there are clearly issues requiring legal expertise where FitzPatricks will be pleased to help.

FREEHOLDS

These are the best business premises but they can cost a lot, which means they can tie up a lot of capital. A mortgage is often possible. If one can be arranged, it is usually a lot cheaper than escalating rents brought about by rent review provisions in a Lease. Freeholds can also be beneficial if purchased by the trustees if on the company's pension scheme.

EXISTING LEASES

Usually, no changes can be made to existing Leases except where the landlord licences a change of use. Even this can be an expensive business if the consent of a superior landlord or a mortgagee is also necessary and their surveyors and solicitors have to be paid. Then the client needs to know that the rest of the Lease measures up to the same requirements which can be negotiated when a new Lease is available.

Existing Underleases are a particular hazard as they incorporate the terms of the existing Head Lease, including rent review provisions, which seldom allow the rent to go down. Where rents have declined, this presents big problems.

NEW LEASES

These are some of many matters which are worth negotiating in a "Buyers Market":-

  1. Dont take on the whole structure. Keep repair obligations down by being responsible for the interior. Even if repairs are part of the service charge, it is better to keep working at the business than being distracted by supervising building works.
  2. Be prepared to ask for a break clause. This is usually at 3 yearly intervals and is triggered by a notice served on the Landlord between three and six months from the break date. If there is a rent review, the trigger date for the rent review should be earlier than the trigger date for the break.
  3. Make sure any changes of use are approved before you are committed.
  4. Resist, in a buyer's market, being committed to pay the Landlord's fees. Also resist having to guarantee a Limited Company's obligations. The first of these can be achieved very easily. The second can be more difficult. A third, which may well be worth a shot, is to ask that rent can go down on reviews as well as up when the market goes down.


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