May 20, 2021
Commercial Property

Lease advice is one of the most common requirements for businesses who have got beyond the start-up phase. But if you are wary of lawyers making things complicated, you are not alone. Even in-house lawyers get upset when they hire external lawyers who make things complicated. As someone who has been both a partner in a law firm and in-house at one of the top property companies in Europe, I can assure you that lease advice can be kept simple. However, it is only kept simple when the lawyer deeply understands what is going on. A lease agreement (should) manage many risks relating to the building and the relationship between the landlord and the tenant. It is one of the most unregulated areas of law, so if something goes wrong it is unlikely that the law will impose any “fairness.” What we are actually doing is to make a complex thing simple. This also protects your relationship with the landlord and the managing agents. We do this in a number of ways:

We get involved early with our lease advice

This way we can most easily influence how the legal risks are divided up. If you have agreed detailed terms of the deal without taking legal advice you may find that you need to re-negotiate it and by then people dig in their heels and everything is much more time consuming.

We spend time with you

There are many property risks that we will manage on your behalf. We find simple solutions because we make sure we understand what you are doing, how you want things to be done and what you need to achieve.

I know there are many people who say they understand entrepreneurs but if you haven’t lived it, it is just not true. Some of our consultants also operate their own businesses and have been entrepreneurs.

Avoid Meaningless Arguments

Some people think they are effective but in fact they are just argumentative. In fact, that happens because (i) the lawyers are thinking of their own ego and overlook that their sole aim should actually be to help the client (ii) they don’t understand the actual financial cost of what they are talking about (iii) they don’t really understand the document so they are afraid to make any changes (iv) they never bothered to ask your opinion! We are interested in what you are doing and why. It helps us to understand what you need and what you don’t need. That means we can avoid meaningless arguments and we can solve the issues that do matter and tailor our lease advice without damaging your business relationships.

We understand the entire lifecycle of the lease

When the lease is signed, there are many more steps left: (i) the contracts to fit-out the shop or office (possibly with structural changes to the building), (ii) possibly you need to install cabling in a technical fit-out, (iii) supply and distribution agreements for your stock, (iv) marketing (v) hiring staff (vi) security (vii) managing the exit or expansion of the lease to ensure that you get a clean break and do not overpay. The lease of your property is not just an academic exercise but it affects the entire lifecycle of everything in your business. We understand all this and that’s why we can ensure the lease is not only simple but also thorough and avoids any uncertainty as you go through all these steps.

And most of all…

We are interested to learn about you. We keep learning and stay flexible. We do not operate a rigid system that you have to fit into. We will adapt to whatever you need.

And to give you peace of mind with our lease advice…

Because we want to give you a great service without causing anxiety, we will always offer you a reasonable fixed fee for lease advice so that you can control the costs.

Contact me, James Williamson, for lease advice or any other commercial property law advice here.