I’m looking to lease my property (barn, arena, turnouts, etc) to someone who would be running a boarding and training business. I’m not experienced in the business side of these things… does anyone have any sample agreements or pointers? There’s not much online. Mostly regular boarding agreements, but not for someone to lease the entire barn for their business. Any help is appreciated!
I strongly recommend you use a contract/real estate attorney to draw up a proper lease and cover all the bases. Someone with experience dealing with a horse/farm animal business would be even better. You also need to talk to your insurer, as you may need to have the person leasing to carry liability or other insurance products that will cover you in case of a loss (like a barn fire or the death of a boarder) - because you wouldn’t want to loose your property over something for which you had no control. That $$$ spent on an attorney might just save you in case something goes south.
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I was just wondering about this today- in addition to OP’s question about how to structure a contract, has anyone done this?
Pros and cons? How can you lease the facility but make the leasee in some way responsible for maintaining the basic condition of the facility?
there are proven companies that management farms and ranches for absentee owners this link is just one, but these types of companies have been around for centuries
https://www.farmersnational.com/Farm…ch_Management/
OP to do this as a do-it-self project it is really not a good idea. As suggested talk with your legal adviser as this not an an easy task to ensure your protection by using internet search engines
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As our attorney tells his clients, you can pay him now to go over a proper contract for your situation and compliant with state laws, or you can wing it with some put together contract, for now.
Then, when you have a problem and want that sketchy contract to back you up and find it doesn’t quite work as you thought, you can pay him to sort thru the problems.
To try to use a two bit contract when questions come up is like closing the barn after the horses got out.
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You’re looking to do a commercial lease. A farm would be a specialized subcategory but it’s still a commercial lease.
Since these typically involve real money (a 36 month lease @ $2000/mo will generate $72,000 plus any additional items for utilities, maintenance, repairs, upgrades, etc.) it’s worth it have a real lawyer draw one up.
Right now I’m in the process of evicting a tenant who was given notice but refused to leave. We are now just short of 120 days since notice was given. The contract required 45; I gave 85. Then gave an additional 15 day grace period. And they are still there with no indication of departure. We have a hearing on Friday.
Do it right before you start and you’ll give yourself the best chance to not get hurt too bad if things go south.
G.
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I have been on both sides of the boarding business, a small-time trainer and a landlady. I would strongly recommend that the farm owner do the maintenance and build that into the lease price. Trainers don’t have the time, equipment or interest to keep your farm up. And no one will do as good a job as the property owner of maintaining it.
I would probably suggest speaking with a couple of real estate pros— one who writes commercial leases and a property manager who does takes care of residential properties. Both pros can speak to you about how best to get a property maintained, what typically goes into the kind of lease you want and what you can usually expect from lessees.
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agree with mvp - and you can hire people to do the maintenance, it doesn’t have to be you personally. Get quotes and have that cost in your calculations of rental
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Another consideration in using someone ‘local’ to you is they will be familiar with state, county, city, etc laws that may need to be covered in any contract you choose to offer and sign.
I recently constructed a training facility in Central Florida and lease it to my trainer and his wife. They operate it as a dressage training facility. I’d be happy to answer any questions – just PM me.
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Agree with using an attorney to draft the agreement as well as the small premium to use a commercial broker. They can help with the agreement and more importantly manage it. Even the best tenants can be a big PITA.
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