Contract clauses, one at a time

A ten year lease on a shop in an old arcade looks secure until the owner decides to redevelop. A demolition clause decides whether the tenant can be made to leave early, how much warning it gets, and whether it is compensated for the fit out it paid for.

Every flat looks a little more lived in after a year. The fair wear and tear exception separates that ordinary ageing, which the landlord absorbs, from damage, which the tenant pays for, and it is the source of most deposit disputes in the UK.

Students and first time renters often have no rental history, so landlords ask a parent to stand behind the lease. The guarantor clause decides how far that promise reaches, and whether it quietly continues when the lease is renewed.

Holding over happens more often than either side plans, usually because renewal talks run past the expiry date. A clause that settles the rent, the notice and which terms survive stops an informal arrangement turning into an argument about what kind of tenancy exists.

Entry disputes rarely involve a dramatic intrusion. They are about an inspection booked for the wrong day, a tradesperson arriving unannounced or an open home every Saturday, and a clause that lists each reason with its notice period prevents most of them.

Make good is often the largest bill a commercial tenant faces at the end of a lease, and it arrives when the business has already moved on. A clause tied to a photographed condition report, with a landlord election made well before the last day, turns an open ended obligation into a list.

An option to purchase locks in a price and a window: the owner promises to sell, and the buyer pays an option fee for the right to decide later. It suits buyers who need time for finance, approvals or due diligence, and owners who want a committed party without signing a contract of sale today.

An option is worth a great deal to a tenant who has spent money on a fit out, and nothing if the notice arrives a day late. The clause has to make the window, the method of exercise and the rent for the new term impossible to misread.

On a small shop, outgoings can add a large share to the rent, and the lease particulars rarely show how the estimate was built. A clause that lists each recoverable cost, the tenant's percentage and the statement timetable lets a tenant check the invoices instead of trusting them.

The permitted use looks like a single line in the lease particulars, but it shapes the tenant's ability to adapt the business, sell it or assign the lease. It can also decide whether the retail leases legislation applies at all, so it deserves more than a one word description.

Pet clauses used to be one line saying no pets, and in New South Wales that line no longer works. The clause now records the consent given for a particular animal and the reasonable conditions attached, which is exactly what gets examined if the tenancy ends in a dispute.

Most quiet enjoyment disputes in shops and offices are about building works, blocked access and unannounced visits, not noise. The clause earns its place by saying what the landlord may still do, how much warning it gives and what the tenant receives when trading is disrupted.

Shopping centre landlords often earn more when a tenant's customers can only find that brand in one place nearby. A radius clause protects that, but a clause that is too wide or too long can stop a growing business from expanding at all.

A relocation clause lets a shopping centre or building owner move a tenant to another shop or suite, usually to redevelop part of the property. In Australian retail leases, state laws only allow it if the lease says so, and require written notice, comparable premises and payment of the tenant's reasonable relocation costs, with an option to leave instead.

In an Australian residential tenancy, a landlord generally cannot raise the rent during a fixed term unless the lease says so and states how the increase is worked out. Across the larger states, rent can now rise no more than once every 12 months, and in Victoria the written notice must be given at least 90 days ahead from 25 November 2025.

A rent review looks like arithmetic until the market moves the wrong way. The method, the dates and what happens when the parties disagree about market rent decide whether a tenant can keep trading in year four, so they deserve more attention than the starting rent.

Most repair disputes are about one expensive item, usually air conditioning, a roof leak or a cool room, and whether it is structure, plant or wear and tear. A clause that lists the items and the procedure for urgent failures settles the question before the item breaks.

In a multi let office building, the rent covers the space, and the service charge covers everything around it: cleaning, security, lifts, repairs to the roof. The clause decides how much of those costs land on each tenant, and which ones never should.

Stamp duty, now usually called transfer duty, is a state tax on transfers of land and some other property. The law makes a particular party liable, usually the buyer, but contracts often say who actually bears it, and how it is shared when two people buy together. A stamp duty clause settles that before the duty notice arrives.

A sublease lets a tenant with surplus space recover some of its rent without giving up the lease, which is why landlords care who moves in. The clause decides whether consent can be refused at will, what the landlord may charge for considering a request and who answers for the subtenant.

Turnover rent lets a landlord share in a tenant's good years and softens the bad ones for the tenant. Almost every dispute about it comes down to two questions: what counts as turnover, and how the landlord can check the figures.

Vacant possession means handing over a property with nobody living or trading in it and nothing left behind that gets in the way of using it. A vacant possession clause in a sale contract or option makes it a condition of settlement, and the seller must sort out any tenant first, within the tenancy law's notice rules.

A buyer who drives away in a used car and finds a failing gearbox a week later looks first at what the paperwork said about condition. Whether an as is clause protects the seller depends less on its wording than on who sold the goods, how they were sold and who bought them.

A consignment clause lets a maker place stock in a shop without selling it to the shop: title stays with the maker, the shop sells on the maker's behalf, and the maker is paid its share after each sale. In Australia the Personal Property Securities Act treats a commercial consignment as a security interest, so registration decides who keeps the stock if the shop fails.