It surprises me in business, how certain enquiries come in batches.
The question “Do I still need a solicitor” has been asked seven times over the past week.
We’ve been approached by business owners, who have agreed the lease terms, the lease has been drafted, they have been sent a copy of the lease and they have asked us to check the lease.
It is this type of situation, which helps to set apart the role of a lease negotiator and that of a solicitor. We have very different skill sets.
As a lease negotiator, we can find property for you and then negotiate on your behalf. I suppose the question you may be asking is why not simply engage us to just check the lease before it’s signed? In our experience, by engaging a lease negotiator from the start, it frees up your time to remain focused on your business, with our expertise and property knowledge, you will end up with a quicker solution and it makes for a much smoother transaction, leading to a better landlord and tenant relationship.
By agreeing to the lease terms with the landlord and then getting it checked out afterwards, if you then have to go back and change the terms, or add something that you have missed, this will frustrate the landlord (and property agent) and can easily damage the relationship. Not a great start. Also from a negotiating perspective, if the terms have been agreed, it is considerably harder to go back and change the terms as the landlord (and agent) already know that you have agreed to it.
So what is the difference between a lease negotiator and a solicitor. As a lease negotiator, our role is to make sure the lease is built on the right foundations, that it has the lease terms included that protect your business and aligns with your business objectives. The lease terms are negotiated, to prevent any nasty surprises cropping up that you will be unaware of and also that it is a competitive deal.
Once the lease terms are agreed, they are then passed across to the solicitors to draft the lease and translate the agreement into a legally binding format. They will go through the lease in fine detail from a legal perspective, they will carry out searches and deal with the CPSE enquiries, which provide important information about the property from the landlord. If these re not done, you put your business and yourself at risk.
A lease negotiator and solicitor play very different roles and to get a deal that works for you and your business, both should be engaged.
June 21
