So, you’re leasing a property. Why pay for commercial property services when you’ve done it all before? After all, a lease is a lease is a lease – isn’t it?

Well, sadly not. No two leases are the same, so you must protect your commercial interests and nail down the rights and responsibilities for both parties.

The landlord’s responsibilities are likely to include:

• Maintenance and repairs of the building
• Management of common areas such as grounds, staircases and hallways
• Insurance of the building

While the leaseholder’s obligations may include:

• Keeping the inside of the property in good order
• Behaving in a ‘neighbourly’ manner
• Payment for services, eg maintenance and repairs, building insurance etc
• Payment of ground rent
• Payments into a reserve fund for any scheduled major works, eg external decoration
• Restrictions on certain activities without the landlord’s consent

As a guiding principle, the landlord is not obliged to provide any service that is not specified in the lease, and the leaseholder is not obliged to pay for anything that is not specified in the lease.

How confident are you that your property lease really covers all these angles? If you leave room for doubt, you may well regret it further down the line!