Repairs and maintenance

A planned maintenance programme can help minimise damage and the costs of repairs for your business premises. If you lease commercial premises, it’s vital that you understand what your responsibilities are and what you can and can’t do. 

Tenant’s responsibilities 

Any commercial lease should set out how responsibilities for repairs and maintenance are shared between the tenant and the landlord. If you are leasing an entire building, it’s likely that you will have a fully repairing and insuring lease, giving you responsibility for maintaining the building and reimbursing the landlord for the costs of building insurance. 

If you lease part of a building, such as a shop unit, you might be responsible for internal repairs in your unit while the landlord looks after the structure. You may be required to contribute to the cost of the landlord’s maintenance through a service charge. 

Whether you are taking on an existing lease or negotiating a new lease, you need to understand exactly what your responsibilities and potential liabilities will be. A typical lease may require you to keep the premises in good condition – even if they are not when you take them over. You’ll want a chartered surveyor to provide a property survey, particularly if you could be required to pay for structural repairs. A schedule of condition can provide useful evidence for negotiations. 

Dilapidations 

A typical lease requires you to keep the premises in good condition, as well as making sure they are in good condition at the end of the lease term. If you fail to keep up with maintenance, your landlord can serve you with a schedule of dilapidations requiring you to put things right. Failing that, you can be required to meet the landlord’s costs in doing so. 

A landlord will almost always look to serve a schedule of dilapidations at the end of a lease. Once the lease has expired, you will no longer be able to carry out any maintenance so will simply face a monetary claim. Taking advice and starting negotiations with the landlord several months before the end of the lease is a better approach. Depending on the landlord’s plans for the premises, you may be able to limit or altogether avoid liability for dilapidations. 

Premises alterations and improvements 

Your freedom to alter or improve the premises is also covered by the lease. Typically, the landlord’s consent will be required, and you will also be liable for reinstating the premises at the end of the lease. 

As part of managing the premises, you’ll want to ensure that you meet your responsibilities for health and safety. Amongst other things, you may need to alter the premises to meet statutory requirements: for example, making the premises accessible to the disabled and managing asbestos. You may want to take advice on whose responsibility these are.