‘Yielding Up’ at the End of Your Lease
Askews Legal LLP are your local Solicitors in Coventry, we specialise in all areas of law but today we will be focusing on Commercial Property and in particular what yielding up means.
When entering into a lease it is important to understand what is meant by the term ‘yielding up’ and the implications of not complying with this. An obligation to ‘yield up’ means the process of leaving the premises and the state of repair of the building upon leaving.
When a Lease of Commercial Property comes to an end the Landlord can be left with a property in disrepair. If the disrepair is significant the Landlord will lose rental income whilst remedial work is undertaken. It is normal to include an express ‘yield up’ clause in the Lease to make it clear what is expected of a Tenant as regards repairs, decoration and removal of alterations and signage at the end of the term.
An express provision will often give the Landlord the right to claim loss of rental income during any period that it is unable to re-let the property as a result of the Tenant’s breach of these obligations. It may also give the Landlord the right to dispose of any of the Tenant’s belongings which have been left at the premises.
Obligations on the Tenant
The extent of the Tenant’s repair and decoration obligations will be defined by the Lease. Unless the repair obligation is expressly limited (e.g. by reference to a photographic schedule agreed prior to occupation) the Tenant could be required to put the property into a better state of repair than it was in at the start of the lease. The extent of the Tenant’s obligation to remove alterations will also be defined by the Lease and or any subsequent Licences to Alter or Carry out Works.
If the Lease does not contain an express ‘re-instatement’ clause the Tenant may be entitled to leave all items that have become part of the building including demountable partitioning. At the other extreme there could be a clause requiring the Tenant to remove all alterations and additions which could be costly.
It may however be inappropriate to require removal of all alterations if the works are required to comply with legislation (e.g. Disability Discrimination Act), if it is known that the Landlord intends to redevelop the premises at the end of the term or if the Landlord would be happy to re-let the premises with the alterations in place
How can Askews help you?
Your local firm of Coventry Solicitors, Askews Legal LLP, has a dedicated team of Property specialists who can assist with any commercial property issues. For further advice or to obtain a quote, please contact Kuljeet Sandhu, Head of Commercial Property at Askews Legal LLP.
