Commercial Lease Considerations for Dental Surgery Practices

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Table of Contents

• Signing a Commercial Lease for a Dental Surgery
• Commercial Lease Terms for Dentist Practices
• Key Takeaways

Entering into a commercial lease for a dental practice gives rise to unique considerations, including investment into capital assets such as surgery equipment. Commercial leases form the foundation upon which many businesses are built as they provide you with the peace of mind and security which will allow you to focus on the growth and prosperity of your business. It is important that as a business owner, you are involved in deciding the length, cost and restrictions of your commercial lease.

Signing a Commercial Lease for a Dental Surgery

A commercial lease has the potential to define how your dentistry business will be run. Some commercial leases will give you absolute freedom when conducting your dentistry business on the property or premises, which may include shopping complexes. Before you put pen to paper and sign the dotted line, you should ensure that you have read the lease agreement in its entirety.

After reading the lease agreement some clauses and conditions may stick out to you as either ambiguous or unnecessarily restrictive. In the event of being unsure about any lease term, you should seek clarification from the property owner, landlord or lessor immediately.

Commercial Lease Terms for Dentist Practices

The length of a dental practice lease will be entirely dependent upon the business model you have envisioned for your dentistry business. However, there are some legal considerations with the term of a commercial lease that you should be aware.

Firstly, a commercial lease will have the option to renew built into it. A renewal term means that during the period of the original lease, you will have the choice to extend the lease. Therefore, you will not necessarily have to renegotiate completely when the initial term runs out. As such, you may want to have a shorter term of the original lease, and a significant extension of time on the option to renew. Alternatively, you could have an initial long term, and a small term on the option to renew. This will depend entirely on the short/long term strategy you have for your dentistry business.

Secondly, a commercial lease will provide for the revision of rent during the duration of the lease. Rent will either increase or decrease depend on what mechanism put in place. Before agreeing to the term of the lease, you need to calculate what period you deem to be suitable to have the rent reviewed. This can sometimes be put off until the option to renew the lease is exercised, however, it depends entirely upon negotiations between your dentistry business and the property owner.

Key Takeaways

Rental or leasing costs typically include the lease on the premises for the dental practice. You should also factor in surgical and operative
instruments; laboratory equipment (e.g. compressors and lathes); waiting room and office furniture; and plumbing, electrical and partitioning when considering a lease. If you need assistance with your lease for your dental practice, get in touch with our leasing lawyers. We have experience across a number of industries, and negotiating with shopping centre lessors and landlords.