How much does a commercial lease review cost?
Updated
How much do solicitors charge to review a commercial lease?
As of October 2026, UK firms that publish a fixed fee for reviewing a commercial lease for a tenant charge from £450 to £1,349 plus VAT, for a review, report or meeting without negotiation. Reviewing, negotiating and completing the lease costs more: one firm's guide puts it at £1,250 to £3,000 plus VAT. The solicitor quotes before you instruct.
Got a draft lease? We'll introduce you to an independent SRA-regulated property solicitor, who confirms their fee in writing before any work starts.
Get a lease review quoteHow much does a commercial lease cost in the UK?
Rent varies: see average rents by town. As of October 2026, tenants' legal fees run from £450 to £1,349 plus VAT for a review, or about £1,250 to £3,000 plus VAT to review, negotiate and complete. In England and Northern Ireland, SDLT applies once the rent's net present value passes £150,000; Wales and Scotland have their own taxes.
Fees firms publish (as of October 2026)
The SRA's Transparency Rules set which services a firm must publish prices for, and commercial lease work is not among them, so these are the firms that choose to. They are tenant-side prices, exactly as each firm shows them, checked on 23 October 2026. They are not Instrukt's prices, and Instrukt doesn't work with or recommend any firm because it is listed here.
| Firm | Published price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Lawyers Online | £450 + VAT | Review of an existing lease. |
| Clough & Willis | £600 + VAT | A meeting to go through the lease. The firm says this is not written advice and doesn't include negotiating with the landlord. |
| Harper James | £1,218, or £609 on its Enable subscription plan, less any accrued credit (both exclude VAT) | A written report with a red, amber or green rating and a recommendation on whether to proceed. |
| Pearson Solicitors | £895 + VAT | A meeting or call, a review of the lease and a written report. Excludes amending the lease, negotiating with the landlord's solicitors, searches, and completing and registering the lease. |
| EM Law | £1,000 + VAT | Analysis of the lease and related documents, such as rent deposit deeds and licences for alterations. |
| Wembley Solicitors | £1,000 to £1,500 + VAT | Described as complete legal services on the lease (drafting, review, negotiation or assignment), with no separate review-only price. |
| Attwells | £1,349 + VAT | A summary review with a written report on points such as rent, break options and service charge. Negotiation is a separate instruction. |
For a wider view, a November 2025 cost guide by Sprintlaw, a law firm, gives these typical ranges, all plus VAT: about £350 to £1,000+ for heads of terms and a review; about £1,250 to £3,000 to review, negotiate the key clauses and complete a straightforward lease; about £2,500 to £5,000 with an agreement for lease, rent deposit deed or lender involved; and £175 to £400 an hour where a firm charges by the hour. We found no independent fee survey for this work.
What drives the price
- How much the solicitor does. The biggest difference in the table is scope: a meeting, a written report, or negotiating the lease and completing it. Pearson's £895, for example, excludes negotiation and completion; Clough & Willis's £600 is a meeting without written advice.
- The rent. Stephensons estimates its hours by the annual rent: 6 to 7 hours for a rent up to £25,000 a year, rising to 8 to 9 hours for £50,000 to £100,000.
- Other documents. An agreement for lease, a rent deposit deed, a guarantee or a licence for alterations each add work (Sprintlaw; EM Law's fee includes some of them).
- The length of the lease. A lease granted for more than seven years has to be registered at HM Land Registry (Land Registration Act 2002, section 27), and a longer term usually means more Stamp Duty Land Tax to work out and pay.
- Your deadline. A short deadline can cost more (Sprintlaw).
- The landlord's costs. You don't have to pay them unless you agree in writing (Costs of Leases Act 1958, section 1). Check the heads of terms before you sign them: the RICS Code for Leasing Business Premises template defaults to each party paying its own.
A worked example
A business takes a 10-year lease of a shop in England at £30,000 a year, with no premium. This is an illustration, not a quote; the tax is worked out at the rates published on GOV.UK.
| Review only (published fixed fees above) | £450 to £1,349 + VAT, so £540 to £1,618.80 with VAT at 20% (the lowest and highest published fixed fees above) |
|---|---|
| Review, negotiation and completion (Sprintlaw's range) | About £1,250 to £3,000 + VAT (Sprintlaw) |
| SDLT on the rent | £994.98: the net present value of the rent is £249,498, and 1% is due on the part above £150,000 (GOV.UK: leasehold purchases) |
| Landlord's legal costs | Nothing, unless you agree in writing to pay them (Costs of Leases Act 1958, section 1) |
Work out the tax for your own lease with the SDLT calculator for a new commercial lease, and the running costs with the business rates calculator.
Getting a price through Instrukt
We introduce you to a solicitor who quotes you. Tell us about the lease and we'll introduce you to an independent SRA-regulated property solicitor, who confirms their fee in writing before any work starts. You pay them directly. Instrukt is not a law firm and publishes no fee of its own for legal work.
Questions
Do I have to pay the landlord's legal fees?
Not unless you agree to in writing. Under section 1 of the Costs of Leases Act 1958, a party to a lease doesn't have to pay another party's solicitor's costs of the lease unless they agree otherwise in writing. The RICS leasing code's template heads of terms also default to each party paying its own costs.
Is VAT added to the fee?
Usually. Every fixed fee in the table on this page is published before VAT, which is 20% (GOV.UK VAT rates), so a £1,000 + VAT fee costs £1,200.
Can I get a commercial lease reviewed online?
Yes. A lease review doesn't need a meeting in person: you send the draft lease (and the heads of terms, if there are any) and the solicitor reports in writing or on a call. Check the firm on the SRA's register before you instruct it.
What's the cheapest way to get legal advice on a business lease?
Ask for a fixed fee for a review only, before heads of terms are signed. The lowest published fee in the table on this page is £450 + VAT, for reviewing an existing lease. A review-only fee leaves the negotiating to you, so compare what each quote includes, not just the price: a cheaper review that misses a repairing or break-clause problem can cost far more later.
Does Instrukt charge me for the introduction?
No. You pay the solicitor directly, under their own terms. Instrukt may be paid by the solicitor, so ask them about any referral arrangement before you instruct them.
Sources
- Lawyers Online: published lease review fee
- Clough & Willis: published lease review fee
- Harper James: published lease review fee
- Pearson Solicitors: published lease review fee
- EM Law: published lease review fee
- Wembley Solicitors: published lease review fee
- Attwells: published lease review fee
- Sprintlaw: commercial lease solicitor cost in the UK (21 November 2025)
- Stephensons: commercial lease fees
- Costs of Leases Act 1958, section 1
- Land Registration Act 2002, section 27
- RICS Code for Leasing Business Premises, 1st edition (2020), Appendix A
Prices checked against these sources on 23 October 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. It hasn't been reviewed by a solicitor: it reports published prices and legislation. Instrukt is not a law firm.
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