Free Utah Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Utah commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. The Utah Fit Premises Act in Title 57, Chapter 22 covers residential rental agreements; possession for other tenancies runs on the forcible entry and detainer part of the Judicial Code.

That part opens broadly. Utah Code § 78B-6-802 applies to a tenant holding real property for a term less than life, without distinguishing by property type, so its grounds and notice periods reach a business tenancy directly.

The grounds are grouped by what went wrong, and the counting method changes between them.

Unpaid Rent: Three Business Days

Under § 78B-6-802(1)(c), a tenant is in unlawful detainer where the tenant continues in possession, in person or by subtenant, after default in the payment of any rent or other amounts due, and a written notice requiring in the alternative the payment of the rent and other amounts due or the surrender of the premises has remained uncomplied with for three business days after service.

Two details matter. The notice has to demand payment or surrender in the alternative, not simply one of them. And it may be served at any time after the rent becomes due.

Other Grounds: Three Calendar Days

The remaining grounds run on calendar days. Assigning or subletting contrary to the covenants of the lease, or committing or permitting waste, puts the tenant in unlawful detainer after service of a three calendar days’ notice to quit. So does setting up or carrying on an unlawful business on the premises, maintaining a nuisance, or committing a criminal act and remaining in possession.

More people than the tenant. Utah Code § 78B-6-802(2) gives a right to perform the condition or covenant and thereby save the lease from forfeiture, within three calendar days after service of the notice, to the tenant, any subtenant in actual occupation of the premises, any mortgagee of the term, or any other person interested in its continuance.

That list is worth noting on a commercial deal. A lender holding security over the leasehold, or a subtenant running its own business from part of the space, can step in and cure rather than watching the head lease fall away.

The right has a limit. Where the covenants and conditions violated cannot afterwards be performed, or the violation cannot be brought into compliance, the landlord may proceed on the notices for the non-curable grounds instead.

1. Settle the rent, the review basis, the term, and how insurance, taxes, and repairs divide.
2. Draft the rent default clause knowing the statutory notice demands payment or surrender in the alternative.
3. Name any mortgagee of the term in the notice provisions, since it holds a statutory right to cure.
4. Set out clearly what assignment and subletting require, because breaching those covenants is its own ground.
5. Execute the lease and record where notices go for the tenant and for any subtenant in occupation.

The statute supplies grounds and deadlines; a Utah commercial lease agreement supplies the bargain:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the premises and any space used in common.
• Rent and other amounts due, the due date, and the basis for increases.
• The term, renewal rights, and holdover consequences.
• Assignment, subletting, and use covenants, drafted with their forfeiture effect in mind.
• Notice addresses for the tenant, any subtenant, and any mortgagee of the term.
• Who carries the property tax, the insurance premium, the utilities, and each repair.