Free Vermont Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Vermont commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a workshop — to a tenant who will run a business there. Chapter 137 of Title 9 is headed Residential Rental Agreements and governs dwelling units; a business tenancy runs on the ejectment chapter in Title 12.

That chapter is procedural. It sets out when a possession action lies, what the landlord must prove, and how a tenant can stop the case — and it leaves the commercial bargain entirely to the parties.

Two provisions carry the weight for a business tenancy: when the action lies, and what the landlord has to prove.

When a Possession Action Lies

12 V.S.A. § 4851 covers the lessee of lands or tenements, by parol or written lease, or a person holding under the lease, who holds possession of the demised premises without right. That applies after the lease terminates by its own limitation, or after a breach of a stipulation contained in the lease by the lessee or someone holding under them.

In either case the person entitled to possession may obtain a writ from the presiding judge of the Superior Court to restore them to possession.

What Must Be Attached

Under § 4852 the complaint states that the defendant is in possession of the lands or tenements, describing them, and holds them unlawfully and against the plaintiff’s right. A copy of the rental agreement, if any, and any notice terminating the tenancy must be attached to the complaint. Either party has the right to a trial by jury.

No. 12 V.S.A. § 4773 removes three proof requirements at once. In actions of ejectment for nonpayment of rent, the plaintiff is not required to prove a demand of the rent in arrear, a stipulation for reentry on nonpayment, or a reentry on the premises — and recovers judgment as if the rent had been demanded and reentry made.

That is unusual. In several other states the absence of a reserved right of reentry is what defeats the landlord’s claim; in Vermont the statute supplies it.

The tenant gets a corresponding right. Before a writ of possession is executed, if the defendant pays into court all rent due through the end of the current rental period, including interest and the costs of suit, the action is discontinued. But a defendant may not defeat an ejectment action this way more than once in 12 months, and that period begins on the day the payment is made.

1. Agree the rent, the review basis, the term, and where insurance, tax, and repair duties sit.
2. Write the stipulations carefully, since breaching one is what makes possession available under § 4851.
3. Set the notice you want on termination, because the statute supplies the procedure rather than a notice period.
4. Keep the signed rental agreement accessible — it has to be attached to any complaint under § 4852.
5. Execute the lease and record the rental periods, since the pay-into-court amount runs to the end of the current one.

Chapter 169 governs the action, not the bargain, so a Vermont commercial lease agreement supplies the terms:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the premises precise enough for a complaint to identify them.
• Rent, the rental period, the due date, and how increases are calculated.
• The term and how it comes to an end by its own limitation.
• The stipulations whose breach entitles the landlord to possession.
• Any notice period and cure period the parties want before proceedings begin.
• Allocation of taxes, insurance, and utilities, plus assignment and subletting terms.