What obligations do commercial landlords have?
24 August 2022
Taylor Bracewell
Commercial Landlords have fewer obligations than residential landlords because there’s less statutory regulation of a commercial property. The reason for that is because the parties are seen as being business parties and they are on more of an equal footing so the law doesn’t intervene as much. So for instance, in an Assured Shorthold situation where you’ve got a residential tenant, there could be a statutory obligation to have an annual gas check, but that isn’t the same with commercial premises. That said any well-advised commercial landlord would have the property in a good state of repair and all the installations working properly at the outset of the lease.
Another thing that a commercial landlord would need to do before they let out a building is to have an energy performance certificate, that’s often shortened to an EPC. An EPC is like a traffic light system with “A” being a really good rating and then you’ve got “F” and “G” at the bottom which is very poor. If you’ve got an “F” or a “G” rating, then you’re not actually allowed to let out a property in most circumstances unless you’ve got an exemption.
Other obligations that a landlord might have is to ensure that the building is as you’d expect and to carry out certain repairs, such as looking after common parts and the structure of the building. But often with these obligations, there will be recharge to the tenant, so the tenant will have to pay insurance rent or possibly a service charge for the repairs that have been carried out.
To summarise check that you’ve got an EPC, check what your lease says in terms of what your obligations are and put the property in a good state of repair before a landlord lets it out and make sure that all their fixtures and fittings are working properly.
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