Commercial property: responsibilities of business tenants

If you are the tenant of commercial premises, it’s important to be aware of the responsibilities you have for maintaining the premises and for the health and safety of occupants – particularly in areas such as gas and fire safety.

Some responsibilities are laid down by statute and others have the force of law because they are set out in a lease.

In some areas these responsibilities will be solely yours. In others they may be shared with your landlord.

This guide explains how these important responsibilities are divided, either by the law or by the terms of the lease.

---

---

General health and safety responsibilities

If you are a tenant in commercial property and employ staff, you must ensure the workplace meets a number of basic requirements under health and safety rules. These include:

• ensuring the temperature is appropriate
• providing sufficient space, ventilation and lighting
• providing suitable sanitation and washing facilities
• providing drinking water
• maintaining equipment
• keeping the premises clean and free of waste

You must also conduct an assessment of potential hazards in the workplace. See our guide on managing the risks in your business.

However, landlords and managing agents may have a duty to share these responsibilities if they exercise any control over your workplace. This is particularly relevant where several businesses operate in the same building and they share the use of common areas.

If, for example, you pay a service charge for the stairs or for a lift to be cleaned and maintained and for use of toilet facilities, it’s likely that your landlord will have responsibility for ensuring compliance with health and safety rules in these areas.

In serviced offices or business centres, your landlord may also assume the responsibility of conducting a regular risk assessment.

Remember, however, that if the landlord does take on such responsibilities, you must check that you are fulfilling them.

You should also co-operate with other tenants in the same building on health and safety issues.

Ultimately the division of these health and safety responsibilities will often be the subject of negotiation between landlords and tenants from case to case. It’s important to check what’s set out in the lease – commercial tenancy agreements often put the onus for safety on the tenant.

---

Ensuring gas safety

Occupiers – whether employers or self-employed people – must ensure that any gas appliance, installation pipework or flue installed in their workplace is maintained in a safe condition.

You must maintain such equipment according to the manufacturer’s instructions, which will often mean that an annual service by a Gas Safe registered engineer is required.

Search for a Gas Safe registered engineer on the Gas Safe Register website- Opens in a new window.

Your lease or a separate contractual agreement can help to set out practical arrangements for ensuring gas safety requirements are met. However, the ultimate legal responsibility remains with the occupier of the workplace concerned.

The owner, or other person in control of the building, may also have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – such as ensuring heating equipment in common parts is maintained safely. The lease or separate contractual agreement can be used to determine how these responsibilities are allocated.

More information on the duties of employers and self-employed people on gas safety is available from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). You can buy the guide on safety in the installation and use of gas systems and appliances on the HSE Books website- Opens in a new window or you can call the HSE Books Enquiry Line on Tel 01787 881165.

---

Ensuring fire safety

Anyone who has control of premises, or some control over part of the premises, can be responsible for fire safety. This means you need to:

• carry out – and keep up to date – a fire risk assessment, considering the possible risks to all people who could be affected
• take steps to prevent fires – eg ensuring electrical equipment is maintained
• provide fire precautions to safeguard people using the workplace – eg escape routes to a place of safety, fire-resistant doors and walls, fire alarms and fire-fighting equipment
• train staff in fire safety

In commercial premises, both the landlord and the tenant normally share these responsibilities. For example, in a multi-occupied office block housing a number of employers, all tenants have responsibilities for those parts of the premises used by their employees. The landlord or managing agent must ensure fire regulations are complied with on common staircases. The landlord or managing agent is responsible for maintaining and checking shared fire safety equipment, such as a fire alarm system covering the whole building.

For more information, see our guide on fire safety and risk assessment.

---

Electrical safety

The responsibility for electrical safety in commercial premises is likely to be decided by the lease. This, or a separate contractual arrangement, should set out whether you or your landlord or managing agent takes on these duties.

As a tenant you must assess the risks of your business’ use of electricity at work and take steps to control these risks. This may range from ensuring electrical installations are safe and providing suitable equipment to carrying out preventative maintenance and ensuring safe systems of work.

Your landlord is also likely to have a duty of care for wiring systems and electrical equipment.

You can download the guide to electrical safety in the workplace [opens in a new window].

---

Duty to manage asbestos in premises

Whoever is responsible for maintaining all or part of business premises must also manage any asbestos in the premises.

Depending on the terms of your lease, this could be you or your landlord or managing agent. In the event that maintenance responsibilities aren’t clearly specified, the legal duty rests with the party which has the greatest degree of control over the premises.

If you hold this legal duty, you must:

• Take reasonable steps to determine the location and condition of materials likely to contain asbestos. You may need to use the services of an external surveyor. Find accredited asbestos surveying companies on the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) website- Opens in a new window.
• Presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence that they do not.
• Keep an up-to-date record of the location and condition of the asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) or presumed ACMs in the premises.
• Assess the risk of the likelihood of anyone being exposed to fibres from these materials.
• Prepare a plan setting out how the risks from the materials are to be managed.
• Take the necessary steps to put the plan into action.
• Review and monitor the plan periodically.
• Provide information on the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them.
• Make sure that material is analysed for asbestos content in accordance with ISO17025, which sets standards for both quality management and technical requirements in laboratories. Find an accredited testing laboratory on the UKAS website- Opens in a new window.

Remember that even if you aren’t legally responsible for managing asbestos risks in your premises, you have a duty to co-operate with the party who is.

You must allow the landlord or managing agent access to the premises to conduct inspections. If you have the responsibility, your landlord must disclose relevant information.

You can download a guide to the legal requirements on managing asbestos [opens in a new window].

---

Energy performance

All owners of existing non-domestic premises – and builders of new non-domestic premises – are obliged to provide prospective buyers or tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

The EPC provides information on energy efficiency using A-G ratings as well as recommendations for improvement. Acting on the recommendations can help you cut energy consumption, save money on bills and help reduce carbon emissions.

For more information, see our guide on Energy Performance Certificates – business properties.

Air conditioning

If your commercial buildings have air conditioning systems you should ensure they are well maintained so that they do not consume too much energy or leak hazardous substances.

You or your landlord or managing agent may be legally required to have your system inspected at regular intervals by a suitably qualified engineer or energy assessor. See our guides on managing fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances and how to use air conditioning systems efficiently and responsibly.

Boilers and space heating systems

The efficiency of your boiler has a significant impact on the overall energy efficiency of a building. If the capacity of your heating and hot water system is more than 20 kilowatts and it is more than 15 years old, it is recommended that you get a heating engineer to assess it.

Improvements that may be recommended include:

• improved heating and hot water system controls such as thermostats, zone controls and sequencing controls
• improved insulation (where this is cost-effective) for boilers, water heaters, piping, hot water storage tanks and ductwork on hot air distribution systems
• installing renewable energy supply systems

You should get an assessment every two to four years. For more information see our guide on how to use heating and hot water systems efficiently.

---

Responsibilities for maintenance of commercial properties

When taking on a commercial property lease it’s important that you understand your responsibilities for the repair and maintenance of the building you are renting.

Tenants are typically responsible for internal repairs and maintenance. In some cases you will also be responsible for external maintenance. This is more likely if you’re the sole occupant of a building.

Ultimately, however, the division of maintenance responsibilities will be determined by what’s agreed in the lease. As a result it’s important to check a lease carefully before you sign.

In particular, before you sign the lease you should check what your liability is with regard to repairs needing to be done. If you’re not careful you could end up having to pay for them.

You should consider having a survey done and insisting on any alterations, repairs and redecorations being completed before you sign the lease.

Dilapidations

When signing a lease it’s important to be clear on the repairs the landlord may require you to pay for at the end of the agreement – known as dilapidations. This can often be a problem area, so it’s important to take it seriously.

You may be responsible for reinstating the premises to its original condition. As a result it’s important to get professional help from a chartered surveyor, who will record the state of the premises when you took on the lease to prevent the landlord from making unjustified demands later on.

---