CPSE.4 is part of the Commercial Property Standard Enquiries suite of documents, prepared by members of the London Property Support Lawyers Group and endorsed by British Property Federation
For more information on CPSE, and a list of all the documents, see GN/CPSE (version 2.1) Guidance notes on the Commercial Property Standard Enquiries.
Use of this CPSE is free, subject to the Conditions of use set out below.
CPSE.4 (version 2.1) is available in Word and PDF format - access by clicking on the tabs below.
Please send feedback to: cpse@practicallaw.com.
If you have difficulty accessing this document contact info@practicallaw.com.
For details of the amendments made to the CPSE, see the Update, Amendments to the CPSE - version 2.1.
For the PDF version of this CPSE click here.
These enquiries CPSE.4 are supplemental to CPSE.1 General pre-contract enquiries for all commercial property transactions. Guidance notes have been prepared to assist the Buyer and the Seller and are available in GN/CPSE.4. These enquiries stand on their own and do not depend on the guidance notes for interpretation. Further supplemental enquiries may be appropriate: CPSE.2 where a property is being sold subject to existing tenancies, and CPSE.3 where a lease is being granted.
There is no need to repeat information in replies to CPSE.4 that has already been given in the replies to CPSE.1.
CPSE.4 consists of:
Particulars.
Conditions of use.
Interpretation.
Enquiries 1-11.
Seller:
Buyer:
Property:
Development (if appropriate):
Transaction:
Seller's solicitors:
Buyer's solicitors:
Date:
This document may be used freely and without charge subject to the following:
The user identifies this document, and any part or parts of it, as CPSE.4 (version 2.1) and as being part of the suite of documents comprising the Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSEs). Details of these documents can be seen at www.practicallaw.com/Article_ID=32021.
Use of the CPSEs, including the guidance notes, is at the user's own risk. Neither the participating law firms who prepared the CPSEs, their partners and employees, the British Property Federation nor Practical Law Company Limited represent that the CPSEs, including the guidance notes, reflect or will be kept up-to-date to reflect modern law or practice relating to commercial property transactions, that the guidance notes comprise complete or accurate statements of the law to which they relate or that comments and suggestions within the guidance notes are appropriate or sufficient for any particular transaction. Such law firms, their partners and employees, the British Property Federation and Practical Law Company Limited exclude all liability to the user and the user's clients for any losses, liabilities, damage or other consequences arising from the CPSEs, including the guidance notes, failing to reflect modern law or practice relating to commercial property transactions, the guidance notes not comprising complete or accurate statements of the law to which they relate or for comments and suggestions within the guidance notes not being appropriate or sufficient for any particular transaction. A list of the participating law firms can be seen at www.practicallaw.com/Article_ID=16220.
The user acknowledges that use of this document is with the consent of the Practical Law Company Limited, the British Property Federation and the participating law firms. Any reproduction of it must be marked © MEMBER FIRMS OF LPSLG AND PRACTICAL LAW COMPANY LIMITED 2002–4 and must bear the logo of the British Property Federation.
The user will not change the text of this document (including these Conditions of use) or represent that it or any part or parts of it is anything other than CPSE.4 (version 2.1). If the user wishes to raise any enquiries additional to those contained in this document or in the other documents comprising the CPSEs, the user will do so in a separate document that identifies clearly those additional enquiries as being separate from and additional to the CPSEs.
The user can use this document in connection with the provision of legal advice or legal training, including advice or training given for reward or commercial gain, but otherwise the user will not sell or publish for reward or commercial gain either this document, whether in whole or part, or any document which incorporates it, whether in whole or part.
The Introduction to CPSE.1 is incorporated in CPSE.4. The terms defined in the Particulars to CPSE.1 have the same meaning in CPSE.4 and the following interpretation also applies:
1954 Act: means the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.
1995 Act: means the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995.
Consent: includes an approval, a licence and a permission (whether of the landlord, any superior landlord or any other person).
Lease: means the lease under which the Property is held and which is to be assigned by the Seller to the Buyer.
Tenancy Documents: refers to the Lease, and to any of the following that relate to it: charges, mortgages, surrenders, variations, side letters, undertakings, applications, Consents, memoranda, registrations, notices, rent deposit deeds, orders, guarantees, concessions, franchise agreements, counsel's opinions, arbitrators' or experts' decisions.
Where the Particulars do not specify a Development, please disregard the parts of any enquiries that refer to the Development.
1.1 Please provide the names and current addresses of:
(a) the current landlord and its solicitors;
(b) all superior landlords and their solicitors; and
(c) any continuing guarantor.
1.2 Have there been any variations of the terms of the Tenancy Documents or have any terms been waived?
2.1 Were all requisite Consents obtained for:
(a) any past alterations and additions to the Property; and
(b) any changes to the use of the Property?
2.2 Has any application for Consent been refused within the past three years? If so, please provide details.
2.3 Please supply details of any tenant's applications for Consents that are presently outstanding.
3.1 Has any former landlord been released from liability under the Lease?
3.2 Is there any pending application by a former landlord for a release from liability?
4.1 Please identify by reference to a plan the extent of any adjoining property (including the Development if any) which to your knowledge is owned by the current landlord.
4.2 Unless apparent from the Lease, are there any car parking facilities available for the use of the tenant? If so, please describe them and explain the basis on which they can be used.
4.3 Apart from car parking, are there any other facilities available for use by the tenant either alone or shared with others and which are not apparent from the Lease? Please describe them and:
(a) explain the basis on which they can be used; and
(b) give details of other users and explain the basis of their use.
4.4 Do you have uninterrupted use of all facilities necessary for the use and enjoyment of the Property?
4.5 Please supply a list of the landlord's fixtures and fittings which form part of the Property.
5.1 If the Transaction includes the sale of a business carried on at the Property:
(a) when was the Property first occupied for the purposes of that business; and
(b) if you are yourself a successor in title to that business, when was the Property first occupied for the purposes of that business by any predecessor?
5.2 Have any works been carried out to the Property:
(a) during the term of the Lease; or
(b) if not more than 21 years ago, during any previous tenancy?
5.3 In respect of any works identified in the reply to enquiry 5.2, please:
(a) supply details of the works;
(b) state whether they were carried out under an obligation to the landlord under the Lease or any previous tenancy; and
(c) supply copies of all notices given or received in connection with the works under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 or the 1954 Act.
5.4 When was redecoration last carried out:
(a) externally; and
(b) internally?
5.5 Please supply a copy of any agreement relating to the treatment on rent review of any works carried out to the Property by you or your predecessors.
5.6 Please supply copies of all notices given or received by you under the 1954 Act and all court applications and proceedings.
5.7 Are there any informal arrangements with the landlord that are not disclosed by the Tenancy Documents supplied?
5.8 Are there any outstanding obligations on the part of either the landlord or the tenant under any agreement for lease under which the Lease was granted?
5.9 Please supply copies of any correspondence between the Seller and its landlord in relation to the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, together with copies of any surveys or assessments carried out by the landlord in compliance with those regulations that have been supplied to the Seller.
6.1 In respect of the rent currently payable:
(a) how much is it;
(b) has it been paid in accordance with the terms of the Lease;
(c) to whom is it paid; and
(d) is the landlord resident in the UK for taxation purposes?
6.2 Please confirm that:
(a) all rent reviews have taken place strictly in accordance with the terms of the Lease;
(b) all review settlements are satisfactorily evidenced in accordance with the terms of the Lease; and
(c) in respect of any current review, all notices and applications for arbitration or for determination by an expert have been served or made on time.
6.3 Unless otherwise disclosed, please tell us whether there has been any discussion with the landlord as to the amount of rent payable in the future.
7.1 Unless apparent from the Lease, what is the service charge accounting period and the estimated annual service charge for the current period?
7.2 Please give details of the annual service charge for the last three years (or longer if available) including copies of all certificates, auditors' reports, accounts and other documents relating to its calculation and apportionment.
7.3 Please supply:
(a) a schedule of the services which the landlord provides and a breakdown of the costs of each service;
(b) details of any sinking fund or reserve account;
(c) details of the landlord's planned maintenance programme and projected expenditure, if any; and
(d) details of any unusual or exceptionally large expenditure which the landlord intends to incur.
7.4 If the Property is part of a Development:
(a) what proportion of the service charge is attributable to the Property;
(b) how is that proportion calculated;
(c) is any variation of the proportion contemplated;
(d) is each tenant of the Development under an obligation to contribute to the service charge costs of the Development; and
(e) are there any agreed capping or weighting provisions in any other leases of parts of the Development?
7.5 Except as already disclosed, have there been any disputes relating to the services or the service charge?
8.1 Please supply the name and address of any managing agents employed for the management of the Property or of the Development. Please give details of their responsibilities and charges.
8.2 What regulations have been made for the use and management of the Property that are not set out in the Tenancy Documents supplied?
8.3 Please give details of any management company and/or tenants' association and what your participation is in it.
9.1 Are there any overdue payments of rent, service charge, insurance premiums or other payments under the Lease? If so please give details.
9.2 If you are aware that the landlord has served a notice under section 17 of the 1995 Act on any former tenant or guarantor in respect of any arrears, please give details including details of any payment made in response.
10.1 If the landlord insures the Property then, to the extent that the following information has not already been given in response to CPSE.1, please state:
(a) the insurer's name and address;
(b) the policy number;
(c) details of all the premises to which the insurance relates, the risks covered and the exclusions and the excesses payable;
(d) the sums insured (showing separately, where applicable, the sums for buildings, plant and machinery, professionals' fees, loss of rent and public liability);
(e) the name(s) of the insured(s) and of all other persons whose interests are, or on completion of the Transaction will be, noted on the policy;
(f) the current premium, what proportion will be attributed to the Property and how this is calculated;
(g) the next renewal date;
(h) the name and address of the brokers; and
(i) details of any separate terrorism insurance arrangements.
10.2 Have any subrogation rights that the insurers may have against the tenant been waived?
Except as already disclosed in replies to CPSE.1, please confirm that:
(a) all covenants, conditions and obligations in the Tenancy Documents, whether on the part of the landlord or the tenant, have been observed, performed and fulfilled;
(b) there have been no proceedings before any court, tribunal, arbitrator or expert relating to the Lease;
(c) the landlord has never exercised any right of re-entry under the Lease; and
(d) you are not aware of any dispute or breach of covenant alleged in respect of any superior lease or the freehold.
