TURKS & CAICOS Law and Practice Contributed by: Oliver Chapman and Chris Smith, Griffiths and Partners
6.10 Payment of Utilities and Telecommunications
closure of the airport and hotels by granting a stimulus cash grant. 6.4 Typical Terms of a Lease The tenant is typically responsible for repairing the demised premises and the landlord is usu - ally under obligation to insure and maintain the building and the common parts, and will usually recover these costs from the tenant in addition to the rent. Rent is commonly paid monthly, in advance or arrears. 6.5 Rent Variation It is typical for commercial leases to make provi - sion for rent to be reviewed. 6.6 Determination of New Rent Typically, rent is reviewed in relation to the mar - ket rent at the time of the review, based on a set of assumptions and disregards. 6.7 Payment of VAT No value added tax (VAT) is payable in the Turks and Caicos Islands. 6.8 Costs Payable by a Tenant at the Start of a Lease Stamp duty (see 2.10 Taxes Applicable to a Transaction ), any registration fees (nominal) and a security deposit are typically paid by the ten - ant 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.
Where tenants have not purchased their electric - ity, 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 prem - ises, or the landlord will separately meter each premises. 6.11 Insurance Issues Typically, the landlord will be responsible for insuring the building and common parts (passing costs on to tenants through rent or common area charges) and the tenant will insure the contents. Typical insured risks would include fire, earth - quake, hurricane, flood and civil commotion. Business interruption insurance policies are not available in the domestic market in order for ten - ants to recover rent payments or other costs as a result of office closures and clean-up costs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 6.12 Restrictions on the Use of Real Estate It is usual for a landlord to restrict the use of the demised premises and common areas. Planning permission and zoning constraints would also apply. 6.13 Tenant’s Ability to Alter and Improve 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 Specific Regulations 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
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