Commercial survey help

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Chinju

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
111
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Location
Sutton
Hello All,

I am in the midst of signing a shop lease. However I have few things that’s kind of worrying me a bit. Landlord lives on the flat above and he is in his 70s. He doesn’t have a solicitor and he wants me to do the lease on my terms. I don’t know if there is a catch there . I haven’t carried out the survey yet. I am still in two minds if I should do the survey or not. Please may I ask business owners if that survey is essential? In terms of lease how useful is it? My solicitor have mentioned in the draft lease that I am only responsible to do the shop interiors/repairs and nothing else.

Many thanks
C xx
 
I personally would not sign a lease without a Commercial surveyor's advice. I'm assuming you're signing a full repairing lease. You could find yourself signing up for hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of repairs.

I signed my last lease in a hurry without a survey...I now want to leave after 4 years. The landlord has had a survey - which I had to pay for - it cost £700 - and now I've had the bill for the repairs the survey has found. The bill is £24500. About 18 months rent. I spent thousands on renovating when I moved in and these costs are unfair and unreasonable - but I signed....my solicitor says I've got to pay.

I would ask the surveyor for his advice, not just a survey. The surveyor will have an opinion on whether the lease terms are right for the area.
 
Thank you Duchess for your reply. It’s very helpful and informative.

I am going to take your advise and get the survey done this week. I don’t know if the landlord is genuinely unaware of letting out a commercial property or he is just playin ignorant. He always had his own business in the shop, what i gather is that he used to operate a mini cab company from that shop and it has been empty since 2017. Since he was unable to get an A1 tenants, he applied for Sui Generis for beauty and nails. This was granted by the Council in July 2019 and I am pretty much the first tenant since 2017.

I have put in a break clause in the lease. yes it’s going to be a FRI lease - the landlord lives above the shop. What I could see is that the pipes from the flat run through the basement of the shop. Which is a bit worrying but I will get that checked as well. Before I sign the lease.

Also the landlord doesn’t have an EPC cerificate so I have asked him to get one done before I sign the lease.

Once again thanks for the reply.

Kind regards
Xx
 

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