Commercial property law — Checklist of lessor for non-retail lease

Introductory note:
The process of creating a formal agreement to lease typically requires that the letting agent prepare a lease advice and send it to the lessee’s solicitor and the lessor’s solicitor.

How to use this checklist:
The below checklist serves as a guide for what the letting agent should usefully disclose to the parties’ solicitors.

Other notes:
All of the matters in section 2 of the below checklist are important for the protection of the landlord and the optimal time to ensure that they are complied with expeditiously is when the tenant is anxious to be granted possession.
A certificate of currency can normally be amended quickly and if a bank guarantee has not yet issued from the bank, a cash bond can be given pending the issue of the bank guarantee.
It is strongly recommended that practitioners advise their lessor clients, and obtain instructions at the outset, that the lessee not be given possession unless and until they provide all the below, and any other requirements, under the lease to the lessor’s satisfaction. This should be made clear by a letter from the lessor's solicitor to the lessor. If such instructions are given, the managing agent and the lessee's solicitor should both be informed.