Renting a premise for residential or commercial purpose would involve an agreement, prepared by lease agreement lawyer. The agreement that needs to be signed by owner and tenant should include duties of both parties, duration of agreement, and special terms such as early termination.
If any party goes against the agreement then it is considered as breach of commercial lease. The most common case of breaching is early termination of lease. A tenant cannot terminate a commercial lease before the end of lease period without facing any liability. In few cases when the owner and the tenant come to an agreement about breaking the lease, then the tenant could escape from liability. In commercial leases the tenant is bound by lease even if the business fails or if the premises are vacated.
If you terminate a commercial lease before end of the lease period, the person who did not terminate the lease can seek monetary benefits. These damages are very difficult to measure and the person terminating lease should pay some amount of money to other party.
A tenant can terminate the lease without any liability only if the lease has a provision for early termination. The clauses in the commercial lease that allow early termination without any liability are
- Break clause: The tenant or the landlord (either one) can terminate the lease, only once, if all the conditions of the break clause are met.
- Assignment: Transferring all interests of the leased party to another party before expiry of the lease. It is possible only if it is mentioned in the lease.
- Breach: Either party can terminate the lease if other party has breached materially.
- Modification: Both parties are given liberty to break the lease if the modifications are not agreed upon.
It is better to seek professional help while signing a lease agreement so that future tensions can be avoided.