Occasionally we get instructions through that use the phrase ‘Rent including Outgoings’. And this drives me nuts because Rent is Rent is Rent.
It is NOT Rent including Outgoings. Never has been, never will be. In fact, Rent including Outgoings is a nonsense.
How you arrive at a Rent figure is completely irrelevant in the context of a Lease. Whether you are adding up the cost of Council Rates, Water Rates or the cost of breakfast cereal, we don’t care, and neither will the courts.
Once you reach a figure for the Rent then it becomes the ‘Rent’. It’s got nothing to do with the cost of future Council rates or breakfast cereal. It won’t change when the cost of these things does.
Outgoings are a totally SEPARATE issue from Rent. The Lease will either say that the Tenant pays ‘Outgoings’ or that they don’t. If they do pay ‘Outgoings’, then our Lease will set out clearly which ones and what percentage they pay. Again, these ‘Outgoings’ have absolutely NOTHING to do with the ‘Rent’.
So please, please, please don’t use the term “Rent including Outgoings’
Oh, and by the way ‘Rent’ doesn’t include GST. Simply because of the risk that the GST may change during the term of a lease, and it is not possible to vary the ‘Rent’ just because the GST rate changes, we would always recommend that you don’t include GST in a ‘Rent’ figure.
So, let’s agree from today to totally separate the terms ‘Rent’, Outgoings’ and ‘GST’ in our thinking and that way avoid any possible confusion in the future.
As always if you have any questions, please let me know.
Regards
Steve Evans