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Every month, Insider invites readers of the Insider Daily newsletter to submit their questions about international trade to top professionals from the Yorkshire dealmaking community.

This week, Deborah Powell, partner at Simpson Millar LLP, has been answering your questions relating to break clauses.

All answers are for general guidance only. Each case must be handled on the individual facts.

Q: I own a restaurant that has struggled in the past two years. I have exhausted my personal finances to prop up the business, but I am locked in by a PG given to the landlord (including a significant cash deposit). Potential purchasers have been put off the business by the lease, which also doesn’t have a break clause. What can I do?

A: “In this market, my experience is that landlords may be prepared to be flexible (particularly if they think they may end up without a tenant should you go out of business). Quite a few landlords are offering rent holidays, rent reductions and/or paying rent monthly instead of quarterly, which may help with your cashflow. It’s always worth approaching the landlord on this basis, particularly as he is holding a significant cash deposit.”

Q: How flexible are landlords being in trying to keep tenants? Is now a good time to renegotiate rents?

A: “As mentioned above, it is a good time to approach landlords to try to negotiate on rent payments. It will vary from landlord to landlord, but you if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

Q: I am looking to rent a shop and the landlord said the lease will be on a full repairing and insuring (FRI) basis. Can you explain what this means and what issues do I need to be aware of before I sign a lease like this?

A: “Entering into an FRI lease means that you would end up footing the bill for all repair costs both inside and outside the property and also for the cost of insuring the property. The landlord insures and you reimburse him for what he spends.

“I would strongly recommend that you limit the amount you might have to spend on repair costs by putting a provision in the lease that states that you only have to keep the property in the same state as it is in when you first take the lease (usually this is done by attaching photographic evidence prepared by a surveyor), and by ensuring that the insurance costs that you have to pay are reasonable.”

Q: I run a design agency that has two offices in the same building. However, after restructuring the business, we no longer require one of them. Would I be breaking the terms of my lease if I sublet the space?

A: “You would need to check whether the lease allows subletting of part of the premises or not. Leases commonly contain provisions allowing subletting of the whole of the space you occupy, but not of part. If you aren’t allowed to sublet part of the premises, it may be worth approaching the landlord to see if he will agree to this. Quite often, landlords will be amenable as long as the sub-tenant moves out when your lease comes to an end.”