Mitchells Roberton

This Practice Note sets out the basic law on restrictions on carrying out alterations, landlord consent for alterations, reinstatement at lease expiry, consents, insurance and improvement and considerations when drafting fitting out licences and licences for alteration in relation to commercial leases in Scotland.

This Practice Note considers what back letters are, when they can be used, whether they are binding on successor landlords and tenants, difficulties with committing the landlord beyond its period of ownership and potential impact on rent review.

This Practice Note considers break options in commercial leases in Scotland, who may exercise a break clause, conditionality affecting its exercise, rent payment due before the early termination date, effect on sub-leases and points to consider when drafting break clauses.

This Practice Note sets out the common law and discusses usual drafting provisions in commercial leases in Scotland dealing with landlord and tenant obligations in relation to insurance, insured and uninsured risk, reinstatement, rent abatement and termination where the property is damaged or destroyed.

This Practice Note considers what mines and minerals, ownership of mines and minerals in Scotland, registration of mines and mineral ownership, how the existence of mines and minerals affects the marketability of the surface title and what developers can do to manage the risk of interdict or damages on development where they do not own the mineral title.

This Practice Note sets out the basic law on rent and rent reviews in Scottish commercial leases including the right to interest, VAT treatment of rent, different methods of reviewing rent, the effect which onerous lease provisions can have at review and examining when a rent review clause might be void due to uncertainty. It also briefly notes the situation where a landlord might be treated as having waived its right to review the rent. The Practice Note does not apply to agricultural tenancies which are subject to different statutory rules.

This Practice Note considers the common law relating to repairs, latent and patent defects, ordinary and extraordinary repairs, repairing clauses found in commercial full repairing and insuring or FRI leases in Scotland, the use of a schedule of condition in agreeing the tenant’s repairing obligations and exclusion of rei interitus and the insuring and reinstatement provisions of a lease.

This Practice Note considers service charge typically levied on tenants of a multi-occupancy building by commercial landlords in Scotland. The Practice Note makes reference to the RICS professional statement on service charges in commercial property, as well as some matters typically provided for by way of service charge provisions in a commercial lease.

This style is a landlord notice to stop tacit relocation operating in commercial leases in Scotland.

This Style provides a clause for use in a commercial lease in Scotland (based on the Property Standardisation Group Leases) where the landlord is to have a break option to terminate the lease early and a short form unconditional landlord break clause.

This Style provides long and short form clauses for use in a commercial lease in Scotland (including leases based on the Property Standardisation Group Leases) where both parties have a mutual break option to terminate the lease early.

This is a Precedent clause giving the tenant a conditional option to terminate a commercial lease early and is for use where a lease is not based on the Property Standardisation Group Leases.