Free Missouri Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Missouri commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a store, a shop, an office, a warehouse — to a tenant who will run a business from it. Chapter 441 of the Revised Statutes governs landlord and tenant, and it names commercial premises directly in the provision that matters most.

That provision converts unwritten arrangements into month-to-month tenancies. It is the reason a handshake deal for a shop rarely means what either side thought.

Two rules cover how a tenancy is created and how it ends.

Unwritten Lettings of Stores and Shops

RSMo § 441.060 provides that, except as otherwise provided by law, all contracts or agreements for the leasing, renting, or occupation of stores, shops, houses, tenements, or other buildings in cities, towns, or villages that are not made in writing and signed by the parties or their agents are held and taken to be tenancies from month to month.

The section carves out one category: leasing or occupation as a tenant of real estate used or rented for agricultural purposes, other than garden purposes.

Such tenancies may then be terminated by either party, or that party’s agent, giving the other one month’s written notice of intention to terminate.

Ending Shorter Tenancies

Section 441.060 also states that a tenancy at will or by sufferance, or for less than one year, may be terminated by the person entitled to possession by giving one month’s written notice to the person in possession requiring them to vacate.

The same section deals with a month-to-month arrangement separately, allowing either the landlord or the tenant to terminate by written notice stating that the tenancy will end on a periodic rent-paying date not less than one month out.

Sixty days before the year ends. RSMo § 441.050 provides that either party may terminate a tenancy from year to year by giving written notice of the intention to terminate not less than sixty days next before the end of the year.

That is a fixed reference point rather than a rolling one. The notice has to land at least sixty days before the year expires, so a landlord or tenant who lets that date pass is committed to another year of the arrangement.

The contrast with the shorter tenancies is stark. A month-to-month letting of a shop unwinds on a month’s notice under § 441.060; a year-to-year arrangement locks in unless the sixty-day mark is met.

1. Agree the rent, the escalation basis, the term, and how taxes, insurance, and repairs are divided.
2. Put the lease in writing and have both parties or their agents sign it, or § 441.060 converts it to month-to-month.
3. Decide the tenancy shape deliberately, since year-to-year carries a sixty-day deadline and month-to-month a one-month notice.
4. Diary the sixty-day mark ahead of each year-end if the arrangement runs from year to year.
5. Execute the lease and keep the signed original with the key dates noted.

Chapter 441 governs creation and notice, so a Missouri commercial lease agreement supplies everything else:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the store, shop, or unit, including shared areas.
• Rent, the rent-paying date, and how increases work.
• The term, stated clearly as fixed, month-to-month, or year-to-year.
• Renewal rights and what happens if the tenant stays past the term.
• Who bears taxes, insurance, and utilities, and which repairs fall where.
• Permitted use, assignment and subletting consent, and the notice address for each side.