Restaurant lease agreement

About this restaurant lease

This agreement should be used to let a food retail unit such as a restaurant, cafe, delicatessen, or fast food outlet. It may be part of a parade of other shops owned by other landlords, or it may be stand-alone. Of importance, since there are no service charge recovery provisions, is that the restaurant should not share services or facilities with neighbouring units.

The restaurant or cafe may have additional space used by the tenant for other business purposes, such as offices or storage. This lease does not cover additional space used for residential use by the tenant, although Net Lawman does provide one that does (see below).

The document has been drawn to help protect the landlord's interests as greatly as possible.

Similar commercial lease agreements

• If the property will be used as a standard shop, use Shop lease agreement or Business lease: shop in parade. The latter contains service charge recovery provisions.
• If the tenant will also live at the property, use Mixed use lease: shop in parade with residential space.

Key features

Plain English is used throughout except where it is necessary to use legal terms common in this field of law.

The key features of this business lease can be summarised as:

• term of 5 years or under (often called a short term lease)
• standard guarantor
• options for transfer or assignment to another party
• sub-letting forbidden
• option to include a break clause for premature termination by the tenant
• a choice of options for rent reviews
• schedule covering use of a commercial kitchen

This document has been drawn so as to make it applicable to the vast majority of leasing scenarios for restaurants and cafes without making it difficult to edit.

The law in this restaurant lease

This lease is regulated primarily by:

• the Landlord and Tenant Acts 1860-2005;
• in particular the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980; and
• the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1994

In balancing the codes with the law and the interest of the Landlord, we have followed the codes where reasonable, but have preferred the interest of the Landlord where there may be a difference.

Document contents

This restaurant lease is comprehensive, providing alternative choices for important decisions.

The contents include 24 provisions and 3 schedules covering:

• rent: period, amount, other payments, interest on overdue rent, periodic review
• condition and repair
• tenant's positive obligations
• restrictions on tenant: prohibited activities on the property
• signs and advertisements
• assignment of the lease
• indemnities by the tenant
• security deposit
• insurance
• access for landlord
• guarantor
• termination: default notice by landlord; provision for premature termination (a break clause)
• forfeiture
• Schedule 1: rights reserved
• Schedule 2: draft agreement for a security deposit
• Schedule 2: kitchen and cooking equipment