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Tenant-side · Commercial lease exit & relocation · New Zealand
The end of a lease is where tenants quietly overpay. Most of it comes down to make-good, and what the lease actually requires.
We manage commercial lease exits and relocations for tenants. We read your make-good obligations, agree the reinstatement scope with the landlord before any work starts, and coordinate the move into your next premises. You hand back clean and step into the new site without a costly dispute.
Typical savings per negotiation
Negotiating commercial leases
Never landlords, never agents who also act for landlords
THE PROBLEM
It usually starts the same way. The lease is ending, the landlord sends through a reinstatement schedule, and it's far bigger than you expected. Now you're sorting it under a deadline, with works to do and a handback date closing in. Nothing was agreed upfront, so every line is a disagreement.
THE COST OF GETTING IT WRONG
I was called into an exit where the tenant had already booked a builder to strip the fitout back to bare concrete. Full reinstatement, as they understood it. Then we read the lease. The obligation was to return the space to "original condition", and original condition was bare concrete when they moved in. They'd committed $35,000 to do nothing the lease required.
That's the pattern. The money leaves quietly, on works that were never owed, because the obligation was never checked against the document. By the time anyone looks, the builder is already booked.
Marcus' advice gave us the confidence to push back against demands that were not justified and negotiate from an informed position.
YOUR GUIDE
At the end of a lease you're focused on the next thing: the new site, the move, the business. Make-good becomes an afterthought, and the landlord's agent knows it. That's how reinstatement schedules get accepted that were never owed in the first place.
I've managed lease exits for tenants for 20 years. I know what "make-good" actually requires, where landlords overreach, and how to agree the scope before a dollar is spent. I act for tenants only. Never landlords.
20 years tenant-side
Tenant-side only
Only what the lease requires
A clean, low-cost exit
OUR APPROACH
A structured exit that pins down what you owe, settles it with the landlord early, and lines up the move.
I read the lease, identify your make-good obligations, and pin down the reinstatement standard it actually sets. We find what's required and what isn't, before anyone prices a job.
I take the reinstatement scope to the landlord and get it agreed in writing, upfront. This single step is where most end-of-lease disputes get prevented.
I coordinate the works, the handback and sign-off, and the timing into your new premises, so the exit and the move run as one process.
WHAT WE DO
An exit is more than handing back the keys. Each of these is a cost you either control or carry. We work them all, and coordinate the move if you're relocating.
Work out what the lease actually requires, then do that and only that. This is where most of the money sits.
Agree the reinstatement scope with the landlord in writing, before any work starts, so handback isn't a standoff.
Where it stacks up, negotiate an early surrender with the landlord instead of running out the term and reinstating in full.
Pass the lease on rather than carry it, where the lease allows, so the obligation moves with the space.
Contractor selection, pricing and sequencing, costed and planned before you commit to anything.
Line up the exit from the old site with the fitout and opening of the new one, so you're not paying for two.
You know exactly what the lease requires, before any work is booked
The reinstatement scope is agreed with the landlord in writing
The exit and the move line up, with no double rent and no dispute
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
Three real exits, and what reading the lease properly saved the tenant. Anonymised, because these conversations are confidential.
A late, escalating list of make-good demands met with a signed baseline, a clause-by-clause response, and a clean exit at lease expiry.
A seamless move to a better Wynyard Quarter site, a defit scoped to exactly what the lease required, and a handover the landlord signed off, all through Covid disruption.
A new Auckland distribution centre secured in a 3% vacancy market, on a competitive rent with a substantial rent-free period, landlord office fit-out and flexible terms, with the old-site exit coordinated around it.
Who This Is For
We manage exits and relocations for franchise, retail, hospitality and service businesses, from single sites to multi-site networks. If property isn't your core expertise but a lease is ending or a move is coming, you're exactly who we work for.
The best time to bring us in is before you book any reinstatement work, while the scope is still open to agree. If you're relocating, the exit and the new site need to be planned together. We handle finding the new premises, the new lease and the fitout too, so the whole move sits with one team.
Common questions
It depends entirely on your lease. Some require full reinstatement, others only fair wear and tear, others a return to "original condition". The wording decides it, and tenants regularly do more than the document requires. We read it before anyone prices a job.
Often not. A schedule is the landlord's opening position, and it frequently includes works beyond what the lease requires. We check it line by line against your lease and agree a scope that reflects what you actually owe.
Sometimes. A surrender, an assignment or a sublease can each get you out before the term ends, depending on the lease and the landlord. Every one is worth checking before you assume you're locked in for the full term.
Restructuring keeps you in the premises on better terms. Exit is when you're leaving, whether the term has run out or you've decided to move on. If a restructure isn't viable, the exit conversation is usually the next one.
Yes. We coordinate the exit with finding the new premises, negotiating the new lease and managing the fitout, so the move runs as one process with one team rather than several disconnected ones.
Free Download
Download the checklist I use on every exit to work out what the lease actually requires, where the cost sits, and what to agree with the landlord before any work starts.
contact us
Tell me about the lease that's ending or the move you're planning. In one call I'll tell you what you actually owe, where the cost is, and how I'd run the exit. No obligation.
