Partial Barn Lease Agreement (not horse lease)

[weixiao]

Has anyone leased part of their farm to a trainer? If so, were there any additions to the lease contract that you are glad you added or wish you added, beyond the obvious? Trainer does primarily sales but teaches some lessons and will be using 1/2 the barn and some of the pastures. The existing horses on the farm will not be sharing pasture with the trainer’s, so no issues with rotating, etc (there are still a number of extra pastures) but common space (tack room, wash rack, cross ties, etc) will be shared as well as the arena. Hay and shavings will be purchased and stored separately.

Any ideas of things that are important to add that we might not have thought of yet would be very welcome!

[2DogsFarm]

Make sure they carry liability insurance.
Ask your agent how it needs to be worded, how much it should be & if you need to change your existing policy and add waivers* to be signed by trainer and any of their clients using your facilities - including barn, stalls, pasture - really anything you own.
Also make sure your contract includes responsibility for any damage done by trainer or clients to your facility or equipment.

• useless if anyone is intent on suing, but better than not having them

[trubandloki]

@weixiao

Has anyone leased part of their farm to a trainer? If so, were there any additions to the lease contract that you are glad you added or wish you added, beyond the obvious? Trainer does primarily sales but teaches some lessons and will be using 1/2 the barn and some of the pastures. The existing horses on the farm will not be sharing pasture with the trainer’s, so no issues with rotating, etc (there are still a number of extra pastures) but common space (tack room, wash rack, cross ties, etc) will be shared as well as the arena. Hay and shavings will be purchased and stored separately.

Any ideas of things that are important to add that we might not have thought of yet would be very welcome!

Who is doing the maintenance (fence repair, painting, footing management, gates) on the spaces that they are solely using? Are they allowed to use your equipment or do they have to provide their own equipment?
Who is doing the maintenance on the shared spaces? What is the agreement on how often that will be done? What is the trainer allowed to do with the shared spaces? (Set up a course of jumps and leave them there, etc.)
Are they doing all of their own chores for the horses they have there? What is happening with manure disposal?

[BUSY]

EVERYTHING in writing and documented with pictures ! or video.

A ‘shared’ tack room with lessons can be a problem unless all YOUR tack is locked away.

Shared equipment (tractor & manure spreader) should be avoided at all costs. No one uses my tractor ! except an employee hired by both parties and * how repair costs are to be covered, decided upon in advance. Accidents happen.

• A plan for consistent conversation about “how is it going?” scheduled weekly at first then monthly.

** A plan for a “good-bye” exit … I know but in case this does not work out.

GOOD-LUCK

[trubandloki]

@BUSY

A ‘shared’ tack room with lessons can be a problem unless all YOUR tack is locked away.

This needs to be repeated!

[joiedevie99]

Insurance. How each utility bill is handled/use of arena lights. Barn hours - can she show a horse at 4am on Sunday morning. How will the arena be shared when she’s riding a sale horse or teaching a lesson. If she wants the arena to herself to show a sale horse, how much notice do you need. What releases do clients have to sign before they ride.

[scrbear11]

The trainer teaches lessons? So the ring or riding area will not be usable while she’s teaching. There needs to be some sort of schedule and open communication about this.

[Scribbler]

If you ride at all, set the instructors’ maximum number of lesson hours per week and her lesson time slots in advance. Also set a limit on the number of students in a lesson.

Otherwise guaranteed you will be competing for the most desirable time slots and find yourself bounced out of the arena on Saturday afternoon for nonstop jump lessons with 3 students doing a full course, impossible to ride.

[Zu_Zu]

Honestly ?! Unless you need this and can make it work to your financial benefit ?!

“I’d turn back, Dorothy!

[weixiao]

Thanks, everyone. It isn’t my farm or one I ride at, just trying to help out a family member. My advice was not to do it, but for a number of reasons they feel that it is the right move for them right now. Sounds like we have covered what we need to, just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t something I hadn’t thought of yet that someone had to suggest. I appreciate the responses!