Commercial Property Law: What Every Business Should Know

Running a business is often an exercise in spinning plates; as a business leader, it is your responsibility to keep up with all aspects of your business, from the foundational to the banal and beyond. This, unfortunately, means you need to reckon with becoming a jack-of-all-trades, with multifarious knowledge and experience to minimise the chances of small problems becoming big barriers to growth.

One of the many plates you are spinning is that of facilities; businesses tend to need to operate from somewhere, whether a café in a central location or an IT business’ operational headquarters in a suburban business village. As a business owner, you can expect to contend with the vagaries of commercial property law at some point – so what, broadly, do you need to know? 

1. Understanding Commercial Leases

Let us start with the temporary acquisition of business spaces for operational purposes – that is, the renting of space via commercial leases. Renting commercial premises is a different process to renting a residential property as a private individual; there are more opportunities for hidden costs, and less protections for businesses that rent property. Indeed, commercial leases can sometimes bear more in common with residential house-buying than renting.

2. Repairing and Insuring Leases

In most cases, businesses are taking on liability for the rental premises and their condition, via the most common form of lease: full repairing and insuring. A full repairing and ensuring lease requires a business to maintain the property they rent, but not simply to an equal standard as it was let in. Should you receive a property with a leaking roof – and without separate discussion and agreement regarding said roof – you can expect to be responsible for fixing it before the lease ends. 

3. Key Considerations for Commercial Property

The risks of leasing, coupled with the increased costs associated with administration fees, business rates and the potential for VAT to be applied to the rent, make getting a commercial property a far more involved consideration than many might think. There is a need for caution and shrewdness – something just as true for leasing as it is for buying any property.

Whether buying or leasing, it is crucial to engage with a solicitors office experienced in commercial property; not only will you get targeted advice regarding your business’ stature and the potential for VAT or business rate relief, but you will also be able to ensure all legal checks are thoroughly completed as the process begins. 

With the legal side covered, you can give more attention to the logistics of the premises on your shortlist, and of their infrastructural integrity. More than one viewing is recommended, as is the engagement of a licensed surveyor to determine what you may become liable for as a business.