With a lot of employees currently working remotely and many businesses looking for ways to reduce their expenditures in this difficult time, the idea of reducing their office footprint can be very enticing. Generally speaking most leases do not provide an opportunity for a tenant to unilaterally terminate a lease and when there are termination rights, they are generally accompanied by termination fees. Since termination is not generally a good option for most tenants, many tenants are looking at the option of transferring their lease to another tenant who is looking to expand their office space. In particular with social distancing guidelines in place, there are many businesses who are actually in need of more office space and not less. If a tenant is looking at transferring a leased premises, then generally speaking this is going to be accomplished through one of two vehicles: an assignment of the lease to another tenant or a sublet of the leased premises to a subtenant.

There are many points to consider when deciding whether to transfer a lease and what form that transfer should take (assignment or sublease). There is a great article from Faskens which provides an excellent overview of many points that a tenant and landlord should consider in this context which can be found here.

For any tenants looking at this as an option, or for any landlords who need assistance with responding to this kind of a request, Northview Law is available to discuss and provide practical, focused advice for all leasing matters, please feel free to book a consultation using the following link so we can discuss.