Get the shared-space occupancy steps and licence terms lined up

The trouble point is often the setup around the licence, not just the document title. Shared premises can involve exclusive areas, common areas, access rules, signage limits, shared amenities, and overlapping responsibilities for damage, cleaning or security. If those points are left vague, the arrangement can become hard to operate in practice. We help turn the commercial deal into a workable occupancy licence and flag whether landlord consent, building rules or other approvals need to be dealt with before the arrangement is treated as final.

It helps to pin down the practical deal before legal drafting begins. That usually includes the exact area being used, whether access is exclusive or shared, the licence fee or rent, the term, renewal position, permitted use, hours of access, and any rules about storage, signage or customer visits. If the head lease or building manager approval affects the arrangement, that should be identified early. Having those points clear makes it easier to prepare a licence that matches how the space will actually be occupied.

We usually need the property address, the names of the parties, a description of the area being occupied, the agreed payment structure, the term, the intended use, and any special rules about shared facilities or access. It is also helpful to provide the head lease, any landlord correspondence, plans of the premises, and any emails recording the commercial deal. If assignment, sub-licensing or fit-out rights are being discussed, those details should be included because they can materially change the drafting approach.

We can advise on where approval issues are likely to arise and reflect those points in the licence wording, but the fixed-fee does not include obtaining regulator approval or controlling third-party decisions. In some matters, the arrangement may depend on landlord consent, building management approval, or other external requirements. Approval depends on the relevant regulator or authority, and regulator requirements can vary. If extra submissions, negotiations or follow-up work are needed beyond the stated legal work, we can discuss that separately.

Timing depends on how settled the commercial terms are and whether anyone else needs to approve the arrangement. If the facts are clear and no external consent issues arise, drafting or review can usually move ahead promptly once we have the relevant details. Matters often take longer where the parties are still negotiating access rights, shared facilities, assignment rights or landlord consent wording. Where an external authority is involved, we will help you understand what may be needed for your situation. so we avoid giving a one-size-fits-all timeframe where outside approvals may affect progress.

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 Occupancy Licence For Shared Space 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.