A landlord consent checklist for a Canadian business purchase covers the practical steps to secure the actual consent — assembling a request package, submitting it on the lease’s required notice, negotiating what the landlord wants in exchange, and getting the consent and any estoppel certificate in writing — distinct from reviewing the lease document itself for its assignment terms.
Reviewed
This checklist covers the process of actually obtaining a landlord’s consent to a lease assignment, distinct from Deavo’s commercial lease review checklist, which covers what to check in the lease document itself. Reviewing an assignment clause tells you what the lease permits in theory; this checklist covers the practical steps that get a landlord to a genuine written yes.
Assemble the request package
Prepare a personal or corporate financial summary the landlord can actually assessA landlord evaluating an unfamiliar incoming tenant relies heavily on this document, and a thin or vague submission is a common reason a request stalls without a clear refusal.
Draft a short business plan or summary of how you intend to operate the spaceA landlord weighing a change of tenant wants some sense of continuity or improvement, and a buyer who cannot describe their plans clearly reads as a bigger unknown.
Be ready to offer a personal guarantee or a comparable deposit if the landlord asks for oneAnticipating this request, rather than reacting to it as a surprise, keeps the negotiation moving instead of stalling on a term you had not considered.
Submit the request the right way
Give the landlord exactly the notice period the lease requires, not an estimateSubmitting late against the lease’s actual notice requirement can itself become a landlord’s excuse to delay a decision well past your intended closing date.
Put the request in writing, even where the lease does not strictly require itA written record of exactly what was requested, and when, protects both sides if there is later a dispute about whether consent was properly sought.
Ask the landlord directly what its actual approval criteria are before assuming what it wantsGuessing at a landlord’s concerns and addressing the wrong ones wastes time that a direct question, asked early, would have saved.
Negotiate what the landlord wants in exchange
Expect a landlord may ask for a new deposit, an updated guarantee, or a rent adjustmentSome landlords treat an assignment request as an opportunity to reset terms, and knowing this going in changes how a buyer should budget for closing.
Confirm whether the outgoing tenant is fully released or remains secondarily liable after assignmentA seller who is not properly released can remain on the hook for a business they no longer control, and that unresolved liability can complicate the whole negotiation.
Keep a fallback plan ready — a renegotiated price or a delayed closing — if consent is refused or delayedA buyer with no fallback is negotiating from a weaker position the moment a landlord senses there is no alternative plan on the table.
Close the loop in writing
Get the consent itself in writing before relying on a verbal yesA verbal assurance from a landlord’s property manager is not the same as a signed consent, and closing on the strength of one alone is a real risk.
Request an estoppel certificate alongside the consent confirming rent, term and no outstanding defaultThis is the landlord’s own written confirmation of the lease’s actual status, and it protects a buyer from inheriting a dispute the seller never mentioned.
Have your lawyer review the actual consent document before you rely on it as a closing conditionA consent that comes with unexpected conditions attached needs review before closing, not discovery afterward that a term you did not agree to is now binding.
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