This document is an agreement for the assignment of a property lease, to be used when a business which is operating from leased premises is sold. 

The parties to the agreement will be the assignor, the assignee and the lessor.  However, you will also need to consider whether there are any other parties who must provide consent, such as the mortgagor of the premises. 

This agreement provides that, on the date of the assignment, the assignor is released from obligations under the lease.  However, in some instances the assignor may have ongoing liability.  This aspect will need to be considered in the context of the various state leasing laws. 

Practitioners may also need to consider whether there are any conditions precedent to this assignment agreement becoming effective, such as the completion of the business purchase.

Using this precedent

This precedent will serve as a guide to the sorts of matters which will need to be considered by parties and their advisers when assigning a property lease. Practitioners should consider the specific facts relevant to each case. In particular, tax implications (particularly stamp duty and income tax) will affect a large number of aspects of the transaction, and these should be the subject of separate consideration in each case.

This document has been authored for LexisNexis by Rosalyn Gladwin.

This document is prepared with the assistance of Specialist Editor Murray Landis, Partner, K&L Gates.