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You can take out an agreement to lease vacant land in the UK. For example, a lease of bare land for storing goods. This type of agreement is also referred to as a land lease agreement. An agreement to lease for land or a lease of bare land is similar to a commercial lease agreement for a commercial property. However, there are some differences with this type of lease, such as the terms of rights a landlord may reserve in the lease agreement and what it prohibits the tenant from doing. This article will explain what an agreement to lease for land is.
What Is an Agreement to Lease for Land?
An agreement to lease for land allows the business occupying the space to have the exclusive right to use it. The lease agreement will specify the exact term, which will be anything up to five years. It will also detail the rent the tenant needs to pay to the commercial landlord.
A short-form lease of bare land may or may not have security of tenure. Security of tenure offers the commercial tenant protection. If the lease has security of tenure, the commercial tenant has the legal right to automatic lease renewal at the end of the fixed term.
Types of Agreements to Lease for Land
There are various reasons a business may want to lease a large open space. Such agreements come in many different forms. These leases of bare lands include:
- a contract to lease a sports ground;
- leasing land to sublet as allotments;
- an allotment lease;
- an open-air car park lease;
- a lease of bare land for temporary structure; and
- a lease of a covered car park.
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Rights Reserved in a Lease of Bare Land
When a commercial landlord leases a large area as a lease of bare land, they may detail the rights they wish to reserve. This will likely appear at the start of the lease agreement. Reservations can include, for example the:
- use of rights of way across the land for the purposes of the landlord using their property;
- commercial landlord’s rights concerning roads, rights of way or fences on the land where these are beneficial to the nearby property, such as the right to repair, maintain and inspect these;
- commercial landlord’s exclusive right to hunt, fish and shoot creatures on the land and their right to these creatures, for example, game, fish and wild birds; and
- right to do things to items on the land, such as cut trees, quarries, minerals and sand.
Prohibited Uses of the Land
When you have such an agreement in place there are certain things that the commercial occupier must not do as per the tenancy agreement. So, although the commercial tenant can only use the property for the ‘permitted use’, the lease agreement may precisely detail the things the property owner prohibits the tenant from doing. These include:
- not to allow anyone to trespass on the land;
- not to obstruct any access to land such as public roads, footpaths or accessways, which are rights of ways;
- not to use the land for waste, such as a landfill or waste disposal site;
- not to remove substances from the ground such as topsoil, stone, turg or gravel from the land;
- to ensure the tenant does not interfere with wild creatures on the land such as by harming or killing them; and
- not to interfere with any trees or ridges on the land, including cutting and removing them altogether.
This cheat sheet outlines what you should be aware of in your lease agreement.
Key Takeaways
An agreement to lease for land in the UK is where a business has sole occupation of land for a commercial purpose. You will also hear that people refer to this as a lease for bare land. In exchange, you will periodically give your commercial landlord a rental payment. There can be different reasons a business owner leases land with an agreement to lease in the UK. For example, to use the land as an allotment or as an open-air or covered car park.
Under this agreement, the commercial landlord may reserve rights over the details of what they can do in the lease agreement. For example, they may reserve rights to repair and maintain rights of way they need to use for their property nearby. Further, per the agreement, the landlord may not only detail what the use of the land is but also what it prohibits the commercial tenant from doing. For example, certain conditions may preclude you from removing substances from the ground, such as gravel, and require you to not interfere with trees and hedges.
If you need help understanding what an agreement to lease for land is, contact our experienced leasing lawyers as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
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