Exercising Office Lease Break Clauses
Find out how failure to exercise your office lease break clause correctly could cost your business your money.
Office Lease Break Clauses
The current economic circumstances means that many office tenants are looking to exercise break clauses in their office leases in order to reduce their rent and other office costs in an effort to seek smaller and cheaper office accommodation.
But still many companies are failing to exercise them properly. Common mistakes include not exercising the break clause in time (as set out in your office lease), and failing to follow the conditions laid out in the office lease (such as not carrying out their repairing conditions on the property).
This can result in tenants having to continue paying their office rent until the lease is due to expire. This can be even more disasterous if a tenant has already signed for alternative office space they want to move in to - so they end up having to pay two office rents simultaneously.
When tenants sign an office, they should, first and foremost, schedule in the expiry and break clause date into their business planning, as well as the date by which notice should be given. This way, they will not miss out on the option of vacating their office property if their circumstances change and they need to reduce costs.
Whilst most office leases contain a break clause, there is no standard formula for how this should be exercised. Every office lease is different, and depends on the wording of the office lease. Office tenants are strongly encouraged to seek legal advice from a Property Solicitor, well in advance of the break clause, to ensure they exercise the break clause in the correct way.
To find a Property Solicitor in your area who can help you. Search our Directory of Property Solicitors.
