As a commercial tenant, you may wish to leave your lease early. There are four ways to do this, via lease surrender, lease assignment, subletting and through a break clause.
A break clause is a term within a lease which gives the landlord or tenant the ability to terminate the lease before it would usually end. A fixed break clause allows you to do so on a specific date, whereas a rolling break clause allows you to end the lease after a certain period (eg, after three years of the lease).
Lease surrender involves effectively giving up your right to the lease by negotiating termination with the landlord. If the landlord agrees, surrender can take place. Surrender would take place either through written deed (a simple document signed by both parties) or conduct (where both parties act as if the lease has been surrendered). There may be a premium involved in lease surrender.
In addition, it may be possible for the lease to be assigned or sublet; usually with landlord consent. Assignment involves the tenant transferring the lease to a third party, once certain requirements have been met. Depending on the terms, the existing tenant may have to become guarantor for the new tenant, meaning they’ll remain ‘on the hook’ until the lease term expires.
Subletting involves the tenant granting a second lease below theirs, where a subtenant lets the property from the tenant who in turn lets from the landlord. Under this arrangement, the tenant would still be liable to the landlord for the payment of rent and the tenant would collect the rent from the subtenant.
We recommend getting in touch with our bright Commercial Property team. We can check to see which termination options are available to you, which would work best and assist you in termination.
Email: bcobb@frettens.co.uk
Tel: 01202 499255