Overview of Commercial Sublease

What is this document?

The Commercial Sublease is an agreement between a tenant (who is leasing the commercial property) and the person who wishes to sublet the property from the original tenant.

When would I use this document?

This document would be used when the tenant of a commercial property wishes to sublease the property to another person. It would not be used for a residential property.

Who signs this document?

The original tenant (now the sub-landlord), the new tenant (called the sub-tenant) and the original landlord all sign the document.

More details about this document

The purpose of this document is permit the tenant to sub-let the commercial property with the landlord’s consent in such a way that the new tenant (sub-tenant) is bound by the terms of the original lease (the master lease). The document is structured to protect both the landlord and the sub-landlord.

The sublease will allocate responsibility for repairs, insurance, utilities etc. between the sub-landlord (the original tenant) and the sub-tenant. The sub-lease will also contain clauses dealing with damage deposits, alterations and improvements, expenses, and liabilities of the sub-tenant and the sub-landlord. The original landlord will continue to have all the rights and protections contained in the master lease.

What are the core elements of this document?

The core elements include identification of the Parties, Rent, Utilities, Repairs, Maintenance, Insurance, Liabilities, Damages, Remedies and Termination.The document could also contain clauses dealing with Multiple Sub-tenants, and Expenses.

Related Documents

  • Sublease - an agreement between a tenant, a subtenant and for commercial leases, the landlord, subletting the leased premises to a subtenant. The original tenant is responsible to the landlord and the subtenant is responsible to the original tenant for the performance of the lease.
  • Offer to Lease - an offer to lease a property between landlord and potential tenant, usually used for commercial leases. This will outline the material points of the lease.
  • Consent to Assignment of Lease and Amendment to Lease - an agreement requiring consent from the landlord to assign the lease to a different tenant, and to amend the lease accordingly.

Written by Rajah. Rajah Lehal is Founder and CEO of Clausehound.com. Rajah is a legal technologist and technology lawyer who is, together with the Clausehound team, capturing and sharing lawyer expertise, building deal negotiation libraries, teaching negotiation in classrooms, and automating negotiation with software.