Introducing Chapter 4 of The Tenants and Landlords Guide to Happiness, a guide to best practice and green leasing.
Wow, this is the really scary bit. It’s the iconic visual image we all have of the lawyers striding through the city, wigs and gowns flying in the wind. Where are they going? Whose lives or business are they about to mess with? No-one wants to go there. Let’s get it right from the start.
We now come to the heads of agreement stage. This is the moment when each little black and white duck needs to be lined up exactly in a row, no messy bits poking out from the tail feathers.
You’re about to make a long commitment. Maybe not lifelong, but still, there are promises and performance benchmarks, and prices to pay if standards are not met, including a potentially messy breakup if things get too out of hand.
The heads of agreement, therefore, is critical. It is when tenants clearly outline what they want from their building and from their landlord. And it is when landlords can define the behaviour expected of their tenants.
Lynne Blundell, our principal author for this book, has trawled the legalese and sought advice from the pioneers of green and best practice leasing to provide a wonderful and simple guide. It’s a must read for what you need to know to achieve better outcomes for your business and the environment.
Put in the ground work and you can produce an agreement to be proud of, and an inspiration to your own business and to others. As all good relationships surely are.