There is no one standard lease and no standard lease transaction. When using a “precedent” lease or form of lease prepared by, for example, an industry body, it is important to ensure that the document:

• grants the rights that the landlord is intending to give and that the tenant has agreed to receive; and

• appropriately addresses any special issues that may arise due to the nature of the premises, the tenant or the tenancy.

It is also important to check that the rights the landlord would like to grant to the tenant can actually be granted. This is especially the case in relation to the grant of a lease with multiple options, or a lease of part of a piece of land where that land is part of a building.

A lease gives a tenant the exclusive possession of the premises and is an interest in land. A licence gives a tenant a non-exclusive right to occupy and use a space and is not an interest in land.

Whether a document is a lease or a licence depends not on what the document is called, but on the nature of the rights it grants.

Both a lease and a licence are contracts between the parties to them. See Lease v licence.

A sublease is the right given by a tenant to a third party to take a lease of all or part of premises that are leased by the tenant. A sublease is an interest in land.

This section discusses, among other things:

• the ability of a tenant to grant a sublease;

• how to prevent a sublease from being deemed to be an assignment of lease; and

• matters to be aware of and address when drafting a sublease, including special issues with subleases of strata premises and parts of premises.

See Sublease.

This section considers leases for a term of longer than five years, including 99 year leases and the differences in the obligations placed on the tenant compared to those contained in a “standard” five year commercial lease. The guidance note also looks at the special issues that arise when selling leasehold title. See Long-term lease.

A concurrent lease is a lease that exists over premises at the same time as another lease of the same premises. A concurrent lease is generally granted by a landlord after it has already granted a lease of the relevant premises to another tenant. This section considers the relationship between the tenant under the lease and the tenant under the concurrent lease, as well as when a concurrent lease may be used. See Concurrent lease.

This section explains the difference between a periodic tenancy, a tenancy at will and a tenancy at sufferance, discusses when each type of tenancy might commonly arise and how to terminate them. See Periodic tenancies, tenancies at will and tenancies at sufferance.

This section highlights the special issues that arise when leasing property in a strata scheme, including:

• the potential issues arising from a requirement that the landlord keep the property in good repair;

• the use of common property; and

• the types of levies that it is appropriate for a tenant to contribute towards.

See Lease of property in a strata scheme.

This section highlights the special considerations and issues that arise when leasing industrial and semi-industrial premises, including:

• where premises that are part of a larger estate; and

• how to document rights to occupy part of a piece of land that is not a building.

See Industrial and semi-industrial property leases.