Commercial lets for the short:term and flexible space:sharing arrangements

Contents

The commercial lease is a familiar creature, but is it always appropriate?  Length of occupation can be very short in the current market, and landlords will understandably baulk at substantial legal fees every time a short-term let comes to be documented.  Plus, it may look off-putting to the potential tenant to be offering a traditional 70-page lease.  Other options such as licences to occupy and tenancies at will have their place, but also come with significant disadvantages.  This module looks at the different types of documentation available, and suggests a practical approach to documenting short-term lets. Similar issues are raised by the increasingly-common requirement for flexibility as to space-sharing or co-working arrangements.  Here, though, there is an additional issue as to what may be permitted under usual lease covenants.  If sharing occupation is permitted, but sharing possession is not, how do you tell the difference?  How are these arrangements best documented?

Learning Objectives

As a result of watching this video, delegates will:

• Be able to identify situations when occupation may be appropriately documented by a licence to occupy, and how the terms of the licence agreement may reduce the risks
• Understand the nature and the pros and cons of the different types of tenancy which may be used in short-term lettings
• Recognise what arrangements may be documented without lawyer involvement, what resources are available to enable that, and what the associated risks may be
• Be aware of how arrangements for sharing space or co-working fit in with typical alienation provisions in leases, and how such arrangements can be set up so as to minimise any problems