SignAndGoSending a commercial lease for signature.
A commercial lease is long, heavily negotiated and signed by more people than a residential one: tenant directors, often personal guarantors, and the landlord. Here is how to send the final agreed version of your own lease so nothing gets lost between the parties.
Check the final version first
Leases go through many drafts. Before you send for signature, use the version compare feature on the last two drafts to see, in plain language, what changed. It is a quick way to catch a rent review date or a make-good clause that moved in the final round. If a contract summary of the key terms would help a director who has not followed the negotiation, generate one and send it along with your covering message.
Some leases have particular signing requirements. If you are unsure how yours must be signed, ask your adviser before you send it.
The cast of signers
Work out every signer before you start, because a missing guarantor is the most common reason a lease stalls.
- One or two directors signing for the tenant company.
- Each personal guarantor, signing the guarantee section.
- The landlord, or a director signing for the landlord company.
- A property manager or broker who should receive the final copy.
A sensible order
Most landlords want the tenant side fully signed before they commit. Put tenant directors and guarantors first, then the landlord last, in an ordered envelope. If the landlord's asset manager needs to approve the final signed lease, add them as an approver after signing so their sign-off is part of the record.
Copy in the leasing broker and both parties' advisers, if they want a copy, so nobody has to forward the document.
Initials across a long document
Many businesses like each signer to initial every page of a lease, or at least each schedule and any page with a handwritten change. Place initials fields where your process needs them, and add date fields beside any special conditions. The signer sees each field marked and moves from one to the next, so a sixty-page lease does not mean sixty pages of searching.
Through to completion
You can see who has opened the lease and who has not signed yet. A guarantor travelling overseas can sign on a phone. When the last signature is in, every party gets the completed lease and a completion certificate, and the audit trail shows each person's view and signature with times and IP addresses.
Common questions
- Can a guarantor sign a different section from the directors?
- Yes. Place each guarantor's fields on the guarantee pages and each director's on the execution page.
- Can I compare the final lease with the previous draft?
- Yes. Version compare shows what changed between two versions in plain language.
- Can a broker get a copy without signing?
- Yes. Copy them in and they receive the finished lease.