Put a licence to occupy in place with clear legal steps and paperwork

It helps to break the process into stages rather than treating it as just a single document. Usually, the parties first settle the commercial points such as the area to be used, licence fee, term, access rights and any restrictions. Then the legal document is drafted or reviewed, comments are exchanged, and any landlord or third-party consents are checked. After that, the licence can be finalised for signing. If approvals are needed from an authority or building manager, that can add extra steps, and those timeframes can differ for Licence To Occupy depending on the authority involved.

The short answer is that the more precise the occupancy details are, the smoother the legal work tends to be. It helps to have the premises address, a description of the area being occupied, the intended use, agreed payments, start date, term, renewal position, and any special conditions about access, signage, shared facilities or fit out. If there is a head lease, landlord requirements or house rules, those are also important. These details affect how the licence is framed and whether extra permissions may be needed before it can proceed.

The key issue is usually whether the arrangement needs someone else's consent before it can be documented or acted on. In some matters, that may be a landlord under a head lease, a building manager, or another authority connected with the premises or use. Approval depends on the relevant regulator or authority, and Where an external authority is involved, we will help you understand what may be needed for your situation.. Our role is to help with the legal document and advice on the arrangement, but we cannot promise a third party will approve it or respond within a particular timeframe.

That depends on the state of the commercial deal, the quality of the information provided, and whether anyone else needs to approve the arrangement. If the terms are already settled and the other side is responsive, the document stage can move relatively quickly. If there are unresolved points about use, access, assignment, fit out or landlord consent, the process can take longer because the drafting may need to change as negotiations continue. Where an authority or third party is involved, timing is less predictable because those steps sit outside Sprintlaw's control.

That is common, especially where the owner wants tighter controls around access, permitted use, assignment, termination or reinstatement. We can review the requested changes, explain what they mean in practical terms, and help you decide which points are commercial, which are legal, and which may need further negotiation. If the back-and-forth stays within the agreed scope, we can assist as part of the service. If it develops into a broader negotiation matter or requires substantial extra work, we will flag that before moving ahead.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Licence To Occupy service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.