Why Commercial Landlords Should Avoid Making Unreasonable Demands

If a landlord makes demands on their commercial tenants then those demands must be reasonable if they need to defend a case in court.  

In the commercial property sector, the circumstances of tenants can change a lot over time. If say a business has a lease on a particular unit then they may wish to assign that lease to another business if they wish to locate elsewhere or the business ceases to trade.  

Before assigning a lease, the leaseholder is usually expected to inform the landlord that this is the case and sometimes a landlord will make certain demands before this is allowed to take place.  

As some cases have shown these can sometimes be seen as unreasonable and when they are challenged in the court, the landlord will often end up the loser under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988.  

To prevent this from happening, the landlord shouldn’t charge an unreasonable fee for allowing the assignment of a lease or delay the granting of consent beyond what is considered a reasonable timeframe.  

The important thing is to use common sense, if a charge seems unreasonable and at worst disingenuous then it is far more likely to be rejected if a case goes to court.  

For more assistance please get in touch with one of our team on 0800 002 9049.