New Premises Hire Template Documents

Agreements for the Hire of Premises

If you are looking to hire out your premises or to hire premises for your business, group or charity to use on an occasional basis, then these new Agreements for the Hire of Premises should be suitable. These agreements are principally designed to cover situations where the intention is to hire the premises for a single session, a regular weekly session or termly sessions.

The agreements deal with a variety of scenarios including hire:

• of the whole of the premises
• of part or parts of a set of premises
• by an owner which is either an individual, company, charity or other type of organization
• to a hirer which is either an individual, company, charity or other type of organization
• for a one-off session
• for a number of sessions (advance block booking)

The documents set out all of the important legal and commercial terms of the arrangement.

If, however you wish to consider using a template specifically designed for use where one party is a charity (either the owner or the hirer), we have included two documents to cover that situation in the Hire of Premises subfolder in our Charity & Non-Profit Group, located in our Corporate document folder.

How Does “Hire” Differ from a Tenancy or Lease?

These agreements are for a “hire” situation meaning, in essence, a business arrangement where the owner makes premises (and facilities in the premises) available in return for a payment. The premises are used only for a very short “session” on each occasion, e.g. a couple of hours, or a morning, afternoon, evening, or perhaps a whole day, but usually not longer. Exceptionally the hire can be for a longer period, e.g. 48 hours or a number of hours on two consecutive days, perhaps for a workshop or training activity. If the length of hire is within these bounds, then a “hire” arrangement is appropriate, but otherwise a “hire” might not be suitable, and the owner/lessee will need to consider granting some form of lease or tenancy.

A “hire” is a form of licence or permission to use premises which confers only personal rights on the hirer under contract law. A lease/tenancy differs in that it is a formal arrangement whereby the tenant/lessee has exclusive use of the premises for a continuous period and has rights in relation to the property itself (under property law), not just personal rights under a contract. As such, “hire” could be regarded as a form of business services contract, and a lease or tenancy as a form of short-term property ownership.