how long does a commercial property tenant have to rent to get long lease status?

Just wondering how many years does a tenant of a commercial property have to be renting in order to acquire rights to a long lease ?

Something tells me it used to be 3 years + it is now 5 years ? If a landlord wants to lease to a new tenant for eg ten years only - without giving the option for the tenant to stay there once the ten years is up - can he-she do that, by writing that in to the original lease now ?

Thanks in advance for any advice or opinions.

Hi Rabbit, you are right. It used to be 3 years and is now 5 years. That is why landlords used to issue "2 year, 9" leases and now they issue "4 years, 9".

I think it's very dangerous for a landlord to extend a lease as the tenant gets rights. It's a problem which they used to get around by requiring the tenant to vacate the premises for a period so that they did not have continuous tenancy.

Brendan

If the commercial letting is for offices, there is a form of waiver which can be used, but it must be before the lease starts. The practice of temporarily vacating a property is fraught with danger - the courts may well look through such an arrangement.

Bear in mind that for a retail unit, there are valid policy reasons why a tenant should have security of tenure; While the building belongs to the landlord, the business may be one which has been built up by the tenant, and the value built up by the tenant in the business may well be inextricably connected to the business location. So if the landlord puts the tenant out, the tenant loses the asset which he built