- If you are near the end of your term you will need to review your obligations in the lease around repairing and decorating the premises and removing any alterations you have carried out.
- As a general rule of thumb, carrying out necessary works to the premises before the end of the term is the cheapest way of getting the premises into their required condition. This isn’t always possible, you may need to use the premises right until the last day of the term. If that is the case, negotiating a settlement with the landlord may be significantly cheaper than simply walking away and the Landlord subsequently pursuing a damages claim for disrepair. Dilapidations liabilities can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, with disproportionate costs being incurred defending such claims.
- If you have granted an underlease you will almost certainly need to take steps to ensure that your undertenant vacates. You will most likely be under an obligation to deliver the premises to the landlord with vacant possession – this means free of your own furniture and other belongings, and also free of any third party rights to occupy the premises.
- You should always assume that you have to be out of the premises by the lease expiry date. We can advise on the implications if you stay beyond the end of the term, in part this will turn on whether your lease is ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.