The terms assigning and subleasing are often used in a commercial leasing context, to refer to when a tenant transfers their rights under a commercial lease to another party. 

Assigning a Lease

A tenant may want to sell their business or move to other premises, but if their lease has not come up for expiry yet, they will not be able to terminate it.  Instead, they might need to assign their lease to the party who buys the business, or to a new tenant.

Landlord’s consent

Assigning a lease requires the landlord’s written consent.  A landlord is likely to want to know (and is entitled to know) all about the new tenant including their financial situation, the nature of their business, and conduct reference checks. 

Although they can conduct thorough due diligence on a prospective tenant, the landlord cannot unreasonably withhold their consent, nor can they ask for any extra payment in order to give their consent.  To formalise the assignment, a written Deed of Assignment of Lease needs to be completed and signed by all parties including the landlord. 

Original tenant’s liability

On a day-to-day basis the new tenant takes on all of the lease obligations.  However, the original tenant (and any guarantors to the lease) will remain liable under the terms of the lease until such time as it is terminated, varied, or renewed beyond the original renewal rights. This means that should the new tenant fail to meet any of their obligations (for example if they get behind in their rent payments), the landlord could come after the original tenant and/or their guarantors.

Subleasing

A sublease differs from an assignment of lease in that the original tenant (the “head tenant”) continues to be responsible for all of the lease obligations, but a subtenant is occupying the premises and paying a contribution towards the rent. 

Subleasing is common where a head tenant is not using all of their leased premises, and wants to make some additional money by subleasing a portion of the leased premises to a third party without giving up their own lease (the “head lease”) altogether.  By way of a Deed of Sublease, a subtenant agrees to pay rent for part of the premises, often a specific portion of a total area marked out on a floor plan, directly to the head tenant.

Landlord’s consent

A head lease will often specify that the landlord’s consent to a sublease is needed.  If the subtenant is going to use the premises for a business use that differs from the head tenant’s as recorded in the head lease, then that new use must be disclosed to the landlord as part of obtaining their consent, and recorded in the Deed of Sublease as a variation of the head lease terms.

Head tenant’s liability

The head tenant remains liable to the landlord for the entire premises, even if a portion of that has been subleased.

The subtenant must comply with the terms of the head lease as well as their own sublease arrangement, so it is essential that they receive a copy of the head lease at the outset.  A subtenant should not sign a subleasing agreement without having reviewed the head lease first, otherwise they may find themselves with obligations they cannot fulfill.

Alan Knowsley 
Partner
Wellington