Put clear licence terms around storage space use

That question usually matters once someone is storing goods in a warehouse area on an ongoing basis and the parties need clear rules about access, payment, responsibility and exit. An informal arrangement can quickly become problematic if there is disagreement about who controls the space, whether access is exclusive, or who bears the risk of loss or damage. A written licence helps record the commercial deal more clearly, especially where the user only has permission to occupy part of a larger warehouse and the operator wants to avoid the arrangement looking more like a lease than intended.

The usual sequence is to confirm the basic commercial terms first, such as the storage area, duration, fees, access rights and any restrictions on use. We then draft or review the licence and check whether there are related issues, such as assignment rights, insurance expectations, liability allocation, or consent requirements under a head lease. If another party's approval is needed, that can affect the order of steps. The service covers the legal agreement and related advice, rather than taking over operational setup or managing the premises relationship after signing.

It helps to provide the address and description of the warehouse space, who the parties are, whether the user will have exclusive or shared access, the agreed fees and term, and any special conditions around goods storage, access times or security. If there is an existing lease over the premises, that is also important because it may affect whether consent is needed before the licence can be granted. The more clearly the occupancy arrangement is described, the easier it is to draft terms that match the commercial reality rather than relying on generic wording.

Not always. If the warehouse operator is itself a tenant, the head lease may restrict sublicensing, licensing or assignment without consent. There may also be building, site or authority requirements depending on the premises and the type of storage involved. Approval depends on the relevant regulator or authority, and third-party decisions sit outside Sprintlaw's control. We can advise on where consent issues appear in the documents and help position the licence terms accordingly, but the fixed-fee does not include regulator approval, ongoing representation, or control over external decision-makers.

Common risk points include unclear access rights, uncertainty about whether the user has exclusive possession, weak clauses on damage or loss, poor termination wording, and silence on what happens if goods are left behind after the arrangement ends. Another issue is granting rights that conflict with the operator's own lease or site rules. Those problems can create disputes about occupancy status, liability and practical control of the space. A well-structured licence aims to address those points directly, but the effectiveness of the document still depends on how the arrangement is actually run in practice.

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 Storage Warehouse Licence 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.