Shops and Restaurants Lease and Licence Agreements
These Shops and Restaurants Lease and Licence Agreements have been professionally drafted for use by Landlords granting leases, licences and tenancies at will of retail and restaurant premises.
The documents are easy to use and within the portfolio there are leases and licences which cater for different types of premises and different lengths of term. There are versions of the documents with service charge and without service charge and with rent review and without rent review.
The documents are constructed in Word format, and can be customised to meet your requirements. Please click on the links below to view details.
Shops and Restaurants Lease and Licence Agreements is part of Property. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Property for 1 year.
Frequently Asked Questions
I am letting a shop unit, do I grant a lease or a licence? +
Grant a lease for anything settled. A lease gives the tenant exclusive possession for a fixed term and normally carries security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, so the retailer can seek to renew when it ends. A licence gives only permission to occupy, no estate in land and no security, but it works only where the occupier has no exclusive possession, such as a concession within a larger store. A court decides by substance not label, so a licence that hands over exclusive possession is really a lease.
Will my shop or restaurant tenant have the right to renew at the end of the term? +
Usually yes. Retail and restaurant tenants get security of tenure under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, so at the end of the lease the tenant can stay and apply for a new one, and you can oppose only on the section 30 grounds such as your own occupation or redevelopment. To let without that right you must contract out before the lease is entered into: a prescribed warning notice, then the tenant's declaration. Simply-Docs offers contracted-out versions of its retail leases.
I only want to let the shop for a season, what are my options? +
For a genuinely short retail let, consider a pop-up lease or licence, a tenancy at will or a short fixed-term licence. A pop-up lease kept to six months or less falls outside security of tenure, so the tenant has no right to stay on, provided they did not occupy before the term began. This suits Christmas or event trading. Simply-Docs has a dedicated pop-up range for shop and restaurant space, separate from its standard short leases.
When do I need a shop lease with a service charge rather than without? +
You need a service charge when you let part of a building or a unit in a parade or centre and keep responsibility for shared parts, such as the structure, common areas, car parking or estate services. The service charge recovers those costs from the tenants who benefit. Simply-Docs offers retail leases of part with a service charge and leases of whole without one. On a lease of a whole standalone shop the tenant usually repairs directly, so no service charge is needed.
