At the end of last month, Northern Ireland saw some of the most extreme weather in recent years in the form of Storm Éowyn. With many tenants suffering various degrees of damage to their property, you may be wondering what your rights and obligations are in the wake of any damage to your commercial premises.

In the first instance, it is important to know what you have signed up to in your lease. Whether you, as tenant, have agreed to effect repairs of the external demise, or internal demise only, may impact on what is required of you where storm damage has only caused external damage. Similarly, where your premises are within a shopping centre, you will likely be responsible for contributing to any damage caused to the shopping centre itself via the service charge.

It is also vital to know what your insuring obligations are. For the most part, the landlord will be responsible for arranging the insurance and will recoup payment of this from you as tenant. Whilst standard insurance policy will cover storm damage, are there any exclusions which would impact on your ability to make a claim? In particular, it is becoming more common in recent years for insurers to exclude damage arising out of flooding in areas that are susceptible to such damage. In such circumstances, does your lease include ‘uninsured risk’ provisions which ensure the landlord takes responsibility for these repairs?

As we are facing more and more extreme weather conditions, there are a number of things to consider when you are negotiating leases to ensure you are protected in the event of costly damage. Whether you are landlord or tenant, it is important to have someone to advise you on what your current obligations are and what your options are should your lease be up for renewal.

Get in touch with one of the members of our Real Estate team who will be happy to help you with any turbulent queries you may have!