Read the standard form, understand the schedule, identify the negotiation points.
What happens at this step
Most NZ commercial leases use the ADLS sixth edition form. The standard clauses cover outgoings, insurance, maintenance, assignment, and rent reviews. The schedule contains the negotiated specifics. The schedule is where most of the value (or risk) lives.
What NZ Legal does
We review the lease against the agreed commercial terms. We identify clauses that need negotiation: outgoings recoveries, make-good obligations at lease end, assignment consents, rent review patterns, pandemic abatement (clause 27.5), bond and guarantor terms.
What you do
Read our markup. Tell us which amendments are dealbreakers and which are nice-to-haves. Confirm any property-specific items (signage, parking spaces, after-hours air conditioning).
Common pitfalls
- Glossing over the outgoings clause. Outgoings can move a base rent figure by 30 percent or more.
- Accepting a make-good clause that requires a return-to-original-condition. That can cost five figures at lease end.
- Signing without a sub-letting or assignment clause that fits your business plan.
