Over the years have been a range of lease forms used to document commercial and industrial tenancies. Apart from bespoke leases prepared by individual law firms the use of standard printed lease forms is now the common way of documenting leases. The two principal forms are the Property Council lease form and the Auckland District Law Society lease form (usually referred to as the ADLS lease). The latter is adaptable to a wide range of circumstances and is now the predominant printed lease form used for commercial and industrial properties.

The ADLS lease contemplates a range of outcomes that might be negotiated between the landlord and tenant including for example market or CPI rent reviews, the tenant paying all or few outgoings and who is to bear the cost of the document preparation.

The great benefit of the ADLS lease form as it is well known to solicitors and commercial real estate agents. There is less likely to be argument over what are now accepted as standard terms.

The Auckland District Law Society updates the lease form on a regular basis to reflect changing market practice and circumstances one of the more recent being the question of access to premises that arose as an issue after the Christchurch earthquake.

A companion document to the ADLS lease form is the Auckland District Law Society Agreement to Lease form which enables parties to negotiate and capture the key terms of their agreement before being committed to the lease or the expense of preparing the final document.

Gillespie Young Watson are commercial leasing specialists. We have prepared literally thousands of commercial leases. We act for New Zealand’s largest private landlord with commercial buildings in Wellington and Auckland. We also advise tenants on matters to be included and excluded from leases they are negotiating. It is very important to get specialist legal advice before committing to a lease.

For assistance with commercial leasing whether as a landlord or a tenant Sam Walker.