The standard commercial property lease form published by the Auckland District Law Society. The default starting point for almost every commercial lease in New Zealand.
An ADLS lease is a commercial property lease drafted on the standard form published by the Auckland District Law Society (ADLS). It is the default form for almost every NZ commercial lease, used by landlords and tenants across offices, retail, industrial, and warehouse properties. The current edition is the sixth edition (2012) with the 2020 changes.
Plain-English example
A tenant signs a lease over a 200 square metre retail unit in Newmarket. The lease is on the ADLS sixth edition form, customised in the schedule with the rent (NZD 90,000 plus GST plus outgoings), the term (six years with two rights of renewal of three years each), the permitted use (a cafe), and the rent review pattern (CPI on each anniversary, market every renewal).
The standard ADLS clauses cover everything from outgoings to insurance to maintenance to assignment. The schedule overrides or supplements those clauses where the parties have negotiated specific terms.
Why it matters
The ADLS form is the most negotiated document in NZ commercial leasing. It is heavily slanted toward landlords in places, balanced in others, and the schedule is where the real action lives. Tenants who sign without proper review can end up paying for outgoings they did not expect, taking on make-good obligations that cost tens of thousands of dollars at lease end, or waiving rights they would have otherwise had.
Landlords who use the form without customisation can also miss opportunities to protect themselves on rent reviews, recoveries, and tenant defaults. The form is a starting point, not a finished document.
The 2020 changes added pandemic-related rent abatement provisions (clause 27.5) that became important during COVID and have been actively negotiated ever since. New leases routinely either keep, modify, or delete the abatement clause.
Who needs to care
Every commercial tenant signing a NZ lease should have the ADLS form reviewed before signing. Every landlord drafting a lease should customise the schedule for their specific property and tenant. Mortgage advisors and accountants advising business clients on commercial premises decisions should know which clauses move the rent and outgoings figures.
Buyers of commercial property where existing leases are in place should review every existing ADLS lease before going unconditional. The lease drives the rental income, the outgoings recovery, and the property’s value.
What NZ Legal does for it
We act for both landlords and tenants on ADLS leases. For tenants, we negotiate the schedule, push back on landlord-favourable clauses, and explain the practical consequences in plain English. For landlords, we tighten the form to match the specific property and tenant covenants, and we handle the registration where required.
We also act on lease assignments, sublease consents, rent reviews, and lease renewals on the ADLS form. Most reviews turn around in two to three working days. Send us the draft lease and the agreed commercial terms and we will reply with marked-up amendments and a fixed-fee estimate.
