Break Notices On Retail Leases - Getting Them Right!

The ability for a retailer to terminate a lease by exercising a break option has always been a very important tool. In the current economic climate the focus on break options in leases has never been more intense. For you as a retailer, the whole point of including a break option in a lease is to provide flexibility, and to enable you to break the lease and end your liabilities if the store is not trading profitably, or for other strategic reasons you wish to exit the lease. But life is never that simple – the landlord is rarely going to want you to leave for the obvious reason that he could potentially suffer a void and will lose rental income. If there is any scope to challenge a break notice, a landlord will generally do so.