Help please, do I pay for a lease agreement to be prepared?

[BlackSpider]

Hi guys,

We want to lease an industrial property for our business directly with the landlord.
We are currently finishing a sub-lease period, where we took over an existing lease from a business which had to move out of the premises before their lease expired.

The rough terms are:
4 year + 3 year option.
Increase at CPI or 3%, whichever is lower.
110k + GST annum.
Rate to remain the same is option exercised after 4 years.

The landlord says he will get a lease written up by his solicitor.
We are required to pay for this expense which will cost about $1500, does this sound like a reasonable amount?
This is based on his solicitors rates.

Also, we will likely require our own solicitor to look over the lease when it's done.
We currently don't use a regular solicitor, should I look for a local one or can this type of thing be done through correspondence?

We are in Caringbah, Sydney South.
Any recommendations for a solicitor who can help in this case would be much appreciated.


Thanks
Spider

 

[TasInvestor]

<<"The landlord says he will get a lease written up by his solicitor.
We are required to pay for this expense which will cost about $1500, does this sound like a reasonable amount?
This is based on his solicitors rates.">>

Its not too bad. Usually it ranges from $900-$2,000.

However because you are paying I would try and get my own solicitor to write up the agreement and send it to their solicitor (more because you won't be royally screwed).


<<"Also, we will likely require our own solicitor to look over the lease when it's done.">>

It is best to get a commercial property lawyer to look at the contract. But if your happy with the contents, etc then a normal lawyer is okay (but there not going to protect your *** in the same way a commercial property lawyer will).

============
Additional Points -

Remember to work hard on what happens if you ask for repairs and there not done (or not done up to a certain standard).

Try and only get one person to provide any personal grantee.

 

[Ausprop]

a while back as a tenant i wanted to use a cheap lawyer to draft the lease but the landlord insisted on a big end of town guy. there was a glaring error in it and the upshot was it cost the landlord a lot of money... he wasn't so thrilled with his slick lawyer then

 

[Aaron Sice]

i'm no pro - but >

the rachet clause seems to work in your favour.

as does the lease option.

just make sure the lease in written in "plain english" not legal jargon to avoid misunderstandings.

above all, work out what needs fixing and make them put that in the lease as "to be repaired before tenanted" as well.

good luck

 

[BlackSpider]

Thanks so much for the advice.

Spider.

 

[MrPropertyMngr]

Hi guys,

We want to lease an industrial property for our business directly with the landlord.
We are currently finishing a sub-lease period, where we took over an existing lease from a business which had to move out of the premises before their lease expired.

The rough terms are:
4 year + 3 year option.
Increase at CPI or 3%, whichever is lower.
110k + GST annum.
Rate to remain the same is option exercised after 4 years.

The landlord says he will get a lease written up by his solicitor.
We are required to pay for this expense which will cost about $1500, does this sound like a reasonable amount?
This is based on his solicitors rates.

Also, we will likely require our own solicitor to look over the lease when it's done.
We currently don't use a regular solicitor, should I look for a local one or can this type of thing be done through correspondence?

We are in Caringbah, Sydney South.
Any recommendations for a solicitor who can help in this case would be much appreciated.


Thanks
Spider

$1500 is not too bad.

Even better though would have been to argue for a cap on the lessor's legal costs or even better still argue for each party to bear their own legal costs for the matter.

Pay particular attention to the make good requirements. A common trap that can hurt you big time come the end of the lease if you are not careful.