Free Alaska Commercial Lease Agreement Template

An Alaska commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a shop, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business in it. Alaska splits its landlord-tenant rules in two, and business space sits on the side the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not cover.

That split matters more than it sounds. It gives commercial tenancies their own eviction timetable, set out below, and it leaves the rest of the bargain to whatever the two sides write down.

Two rules shape how an Alaska commercial lease agreement is written and how notice under it must be served.

Putting the Lease in Writing

AS 09.25.010(a)(6) places an agreement for leasing for a longer period than one year inside the statute of frauds, so it must be in writing and signed by the party being held to it. Subsection (b) makes the same point from the other direction: no estate or interest in real property other than a lease for a term not exceeding one year can be created or transferred except by a written instrument, subscribed by the party creating it or by an agent under written authority.

Serving and Wording a Notice to Quit

AS 09.45.100(c) sets out how a notice to quit reaches a commercial tenant. It can be delivered to the tenant, left at the premises if the tenant is absent, or sent by registered or certified mail. Under AS 09.45.105 the notice has to state the nature of the breach, and where the breach can be corrected, the remedial action and the deadline for taking it.

Watch the mailing rule. AS 09.45.090(c) adds three days to every notice period below when the landlord gives notice by mail.

It depends on what went wrong, and an Alaska commercial lease agreement runs on a different clock for each ground. AS 09.45.090(b) lists the grounds for unlawful holding by force on property the residential act does not apply to:

• Unpaid rent — seven days to pay or vacate, after the landlord serves a written demand for possession.
• A breach of any other condition or covenant in the lease — 10 days to deliver up possession after a notice to quit.
• Deliberate infliction of substantial damage — a date the landlord sets, no less than 24 hours after demanding possession.
• Using the premises for an illegal purpose — five days.
• Farming or agricultural premises, where the tenant has violated AS 34.05.025 — 30 days.

Two more grounds carry no fixed count. A tenancy based on an estate at will ends and the tenant stays on; or a person stays past the time limited in the lease, or holds without a written agreement and without the landlord’s consent.

1. Agree the commercial terms first: rent and increases, the length of the term, renewal rights, and who carries repairs, insurance, and utilities.
2. Put the lease in writing whenever the term runs longer than one year, as AS 09.25.010 requires.
3. Have the party being bound sign it, or an agent acting under written authority.
4. Set out your own cure periods and default procedure, since the statutory counts are the floor for eviction rather than a full contract.
5. Give each side a signed copy and keep yours with your business records.

Alaska mandates very little of what goes inside the document, so work through this with the other side before signing:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, including the entity rather than only the person signing.
• A description of the premises exact enough to identify the space and any shared areas.
• Rent, the due date, and how increases are calculated.
• The term, renewal options, and what happens on holdover.
• Who pays utilities, taxes, and insurance, and who repairs what.
• Permitted use, and whether assignment or subletting needs consent.
• Notice addresses, since service under AS 09.45.100 depends on reaching the right place.