# Specialist reference: leases and leave-and-licence agreements

Load this reference when the contract being reviewed is a lease, tenancy, or leave-and-licence agreement (commercial or residential). It supplements, and does not replace, the base contract-reviewer method — run the base structural map, defined-terms sweep, boilerplate read, grading scale, and output sections as normal, and apply the steps below in addition, in place of the base risk-allocation/exit sections where they do not fit a lease's shape.

## Additional required inputs

Governing law and the property's location — landlord-tenant law is intensely jurisdiction-specific, and rent-control or tenant-protection legislation in many jurisdictions significantly restricts what a lease can actually provide regardless of its written terms. Extract from the document or ask; treat every point resting on such legislation as a verification point rather than an assumption that the written terms will simply be given effect. Also obtain the complete document set — the lease itself and any schedule, such as a fit-out or service-charge schedule, that qualifies it.

## Additional method

1. **Classify the document — lease or licence — and check whether its label matches its actual substance.** A document labelled a licence that in substance grants exclusive possession for a defined term risks being recharacterised as a lease under the law of some jurisdictions, with real consequences for eviction and possession rights. Flag this as a verification point where the substance looks mismatched to the label; do not assert the recharacterisation definitively without legal research.
2. **Work through term and renewal.** The lease period, whether a renewal is a genuine option the tenant can exercise or requires fresh negotiation with the landlord, and the notice periods required for renewal or non-renewal.
3. **Work through rent and escalation.** Base rent, the escalation mechanism — a fixed percentage or index-linked — payment terms, and any revenue-share or turnover-rent component where the tenancy is commercial.
4. **Work through maintenance and repair responsibility.** The allocation between landlord and tenant, the distinction between structural and non-structural repairs, and service-charge mechanics where they apply.
5. **Work through the security deposit.** The amount, whether it carries interest, the conditions under which deductions can be made, and the refund timeline and mechanics on exit.
6. **Work through exit mechanics.** Termination rights — for breach, and for convenience if any exists — notice periods, make-good or reinstatement obligations, and the consequences of holding over past the term.
7. **Check for statutory overrides.** Rent-control legislation, mandatory notice periods, or tenant-protection statutes can override the written terms regardless of what the lease itself says. Flag this as a verification point specific to the governing law and the property's location; do not assume the written terms control without that being checked.

## Additional output

Add a lease-versus-licence classification statement (with any label/substance mismatch flagged for verification) ahead of the issues list, and fold term/renewal, rent/escalation, maintenance/repair, security deposit, and exit-mechanics findings into the base issues list and risk-allocation prose rather than the base skill's warranty/indemnity/cap framing, which does not fit a lease.

## Additional guardrails

- Do not assume a document's label — lease or licence — matches its legal substance. Flag a mismatch risk where one appears.
- Do not assume the written terms will be given full effect. Rent-control and tenant-protection statutes can override them; flag this as a verification point.
- Do not assume standard notice periods or statutory protections apply — these are jurisdiction- and property-type-specific.