Stewart C.

I am a commercial property solicitor and I have acted for 3 separate clients within the last few months who have encountered legal problems as a result of defects in the precedent commercial lease provided by this website. Whilst I am sure that the website covers itself legally with the necessary disclaimers, I can not advise people strongly enough against using their precedent lease. I can not comment on their other legal documents, but the lease is simply not fit for purpose for a commercial property in England and Wales. The clauses are very poorly drafted (including embarrassing spelling mistakes and grammatical errors), and often completely incomprehensible. There are clauses which are clearly based on US law and have no relevance to UK law (eg reference to Eminent Domain and Expropriation, terminology used in US law but not in the UK). There are clauses that contradict other clauses within the same document, and provisions which are unclear and ambiguous, and leave the parties open to disputes over the meaning and intention. It is certainly the worst example that I have ever seen of an attempt at a commercial lease and simply should not be used in the UK. The website even states that the document is specifically adapted to apply in England, but has clearly been prepared by an oversees company with only limited input from a UK lawyer. It is always very dangerous to rely on a free online document in place of formal legal advice, but if you want to avoid instructing a solicitor there are far more suitable precedent documents available, and I would strongly advise anyone against using this document.