TURKS & CAICOS Law and Practice Contributed by: Christopher Smith, Dentons Turks and Caicos
6.5 Rent Variation It is typical for commercial leases to make provision for rent to be reviewed. 6.6 Determination of New Rent Typically, rent is reviewed in relation to the market rent at the time of the review, based on a set of assump - No value added tax (VAT) is payable in the Islands. 6.8 Costs Payable by a Tenant at the Start of a Lease Stamp duty (see 2.10 Taxes Applicable to a Trans- action ), any registration fees (nominal) and a security deposit are typically paid by the tenant at the start of the lease. Landlords also often request payment of rent for the final month of the term when the lease is entered into. 6.9 Payment of Maintenance and Repair The landlord typically recovers their costs from the tenant through rent or communal service charges. 6.10 Payment of Utilities and Telecommunications Where tenants have not purchased their electricity, water, gas and telecommunications services directly from suppliers, they will typically pay a share of these services provided by the landlord by reference to the size of their demised premises, or the landlord will separately meter each premises. 6.11 Payment of Property Taxes tions and disregards. 6.7 Payment of VAT The only “tax” that is payable on rental property is stamp duty, which is due on the grant of a lease. Please refer to 2.10 Taxes Applicable to a Transac- tion , which sets out the relevant stamp duty rates for leases. 6.12 Insurance Issues It is usual for a landlord to restrict the use of the demised premises and common areas. Planning per - mission and zoning constraints would also apply.
6.13 Restrictions on the Use of Real Estate A lease will ordinarily prohibit the tenant from making alterations or improvements to the real estate without the prior consent of the landlord. 6.14 Tenant’s Ability to Alter and Improve Real Estate There are no specific regulations and/or laws that apply to leases of particular categories of real estate. Parties generally have the freedom to contract as they wish, although the Registered Land Act does imply certain covenants on the landlord and tenant, unless modified in the lease. 6.15 Specific Regulations The terms of the lease usually allow a landlord to ter - minate the lease if the tenant becomes insolvent. 6.16 Effect of the Tenant’s Insolvency It is common for a landlord to take a security deposit at the outset of a lease, and the landlord may require guarantees from directors, shareholders or related companies. Security deposits are freely negotiable but would likely include at least one rental payment. Security deposits are not regulated and so the terms of the lease would govern. 6.17 Right to Occupy After Termination or Expiry of a Lease Unless expressly provided for in the lease, tenants do not have security of occupation or a right to renew at the end of the term. However, where a tenant contin - ues to occupy the premises with the consent of the landlord after the termination of the lease, the tenant will be deemed to be a tenant holding the premises on a periodic tenancy on the same conditions as those of the expired lease, in so far as those conditions are appropriate to a periodic tenancy. 6.18 Right to Assign a Leasehold Interest There is an implied term in the Registered Land Act CAP 9.01 that tenants are only permitted to assign their leasehold interest with the written consent of the landlord, which should not be unreasonably withheld. However, it is up to the landlord and the tenant to
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