Why Register a Lease?
After a lease is signed by the landlord and tenant, the tenant will often be asked by their solicitor: “do you want the lease to be registered at the Land Titles Office?”
Given the costs in doing so (often $500 to $1,000 depending on the premises), there must be a good reason for it.
Well often there is.
Why Registration Protects Your Tenancy
If your lease (including options) is for a period greater than 3 years, a new landlord will not have to honour your options if the lease is not registered. That is, registering you lease protects you against future owners kicking you out.
A Practical Example
- you are the tenant of premises and you have a lease with an initial term of 3 years with an option period of 3 years (i.e. 6 years in total);
- your lease is not registered;
- your landlord sells the building in which the premises are located to Bill in the second year of the lease;
- Bill wants to use the leased premises himself.
In these circumstances, Bill is not required to honour the option period and can have the tenant removed upon the expiry of the 3rd year.
Where the location of the business is crucial to the success of the business, this could be catastrophic.
If the lease was registered in this example, Bill would have had to honour the full length of the lease even though he was not the owner at the time the lease was entered into.
Therefore, to avoid a problem like this happening to you, make sure your lease gets registered.
Want my view on your own situation?
Book an initial consultation: up to two hours with me by phone for a fixed fee of $1,650 (including GST), then a short written note of my advice and next steps. If my conflict check means I can't act, I'll refund your fee in full. To check anything first, email
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Joe Kafrouni, Accredited Specialist in Business Law, Kafrouni Law
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Before acting on it, get advice on your own circumstances. To the extent the law allows, Kafrouni Law accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on it. This article is the copyright of Kafrouni Law.
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