My commercial lease is coming to an end. What should I do as the landlord?

Start twelve months out. Read the lease for renewal options and notice deadlines, get a rent opinion against live asking rates, and decide by nine months whether you want to renew, re-lease or reposition the property. Open renewal talks or start marketing at six months, settle documents and inspect at three months, and never let the tenant stay past expiry without written overholding terms.

What happens if a commercial tenant stays after the lease expires in BC?

If the lease has an overholding clause, that clause governs: typically a month-to-month tenancy at 125–200% of the last rent, terminable on 30 days' notice. If it does not, and the landlord accepts rent, the usual result at common law is a periodic (month-to-month) tenancy on the old terms and rent. If the landlord does not consent, the tenant is wrongfully holding over and the landlord can seek possession through the BC Supreme Court under the Commercial Tenancy Act. Confirm with a lawyer before accepting any payment.

Does the Residential Tenancy Branch handle commercial lease disputes?

No. Commercial tenancies in BC are outside the Residential Tenancy Act. The lease itself and the Commercial Tenancy Act (RSBC 1996, c. 57) govern, and disputes go to the BC Supreme Court (or Provincial Court for smaller money claims), not the Residential Tenancy Branch.

How much notice do I have to give a commercial tenant that I will not renew?

Whatever the lease says. Many BC commercial leases require the tenant to exercise a renewal option 6–12 months before expiry, and some require the landlord to give notice of the renewal rent. A fixed-term lease with no option ends on its expiry date without notice, but sending a written reminder 6 months out avoids an overholding dispute. Check your lease with a lawyer.

Can I raise the rent when a commercial lease renews?

Yes, subject to the lease. Commercial rent is not regulated in BC. If the lease has a renewal option, it usually sets the mechanism: fixed rent, a stated increase, market rent agreed between the parties, or arbitration if they cannot agree. If there is no option, the renewal is a new negotiation and the rent is whatever both sides sign.

What is distress for rent in a BC commercial lease?

Distress is the landlord's right, under the Commercial Tenancy Act and the lease, to seize and sell the tenant's goods on the premises to recover rent arrears. It is a technical remedy with strict rules on what can be seized, notice and sale, and it is inconsistent with terminating the lease at the same time. It should be carried out by a licensed bailiff on a lawyer's instructions, not by the landlord changing the locks.

What are make-good or restoration obligations?

The lease clause that says what condition the tenant must leave the premises in: usually removal of their trade fixtures and signage, repair of damage, and sometimes restoration to base building or the original layout. Send the tenant the requirement in writing at least 90 days before expiry, inspect together before they leave, and price the work so it can be deducted from the deposit or claimed.

How long does it take to re-lease a commercial space after a tenant leaves?

Our experience and brokerage market reports put small industrial at 30–90 days, small office at 60–150 days and retail at 90–180 days from marketing to a signed lease, plus 30–90 days of fixturing before rent starts. That is why marketing should begin six months before expiry if the tenant is leaving, not after the keys are back.

Owner guide · commercial leasing

Commercial lease expiry: the BC landlord's playbook

A commercial lease in BC ends on the date the lease says, with no Residential Tenancy Branch and no statutory notice period; the lease and the Commercial Tenancy Act govern. Start 12 months out: renewal options and notice windows are often 6–12 months before expiry, and re-leasing a small Vancouver space takes 60–180 days plus fixturing.

Build my dated plan Ask about my lease

For landlords of office, retail, industrial and live/work space in BC · 13 min read · Updated September 2026

12 mo

Start here

Read the lease, diarize option and notice windows, get a rent view

9 mo

Decide

Renew, re-lease or reposition, on numbers

6 mo

Talk or market

Renewal letter with a response date, or listing live

125–200%

Typical overholding rent

If your lease has the clause; otherwise month-to-month at the old rent

The dated timeline

Most commercial lease problems in Metro Vancouver are calendar problems. The tenant had an option to renew at market rent that had to be exercised nine months before expiry; nobody diarized it; the tenant exercises late and the landlord accepts, or the landlord refuses and the tenant leaves in a bad mood. Enter your expiry date in the lease expiry planner and it turns this timeline into dates for your lease.

12 months out01
Read the lease, diarize the deadlines, get a rent view
- Read the whole lease and every amendment, renewal and side letter: expiry date, renewal option (how many, how long, how exercised, how rent is set), early termination rights, the overholding clause, the make-good clause, any right of first refusal on adjacent space or a sale.
- Diarize every deadline: the tenant's option window, notice you must give, market-rent review triggers, the arbitration timeline, the date you must state the renewal rent.
- Get a market rent view against live asking rates for the asset type and submarket; the lease rate estimator is built on daily Metro Vancouver asking-rate data and a formal opinion adds achieved rents. Pull the tenant's payment history and insurance certificate too; eight late payments in two years changes the decision.
9 months out02
Decide: renew, re-lease or reposition
Three paths, chosen on numbers (see the comparison below). A tenant paying $4/sqft below market on 3,000 sqft costs you $12,000 a year; four months of vacancy on the same unit at $30 gross costs $30,000 before commissions and improvements. Unless the gap is large or the tenant is a problem, renewing usually wins. The vacancy cost calculator runs your own figures.
6 months out03
Open renewal talks or start marketing
If renewing: write to the tenant with the proposed term, rent and any changes (updated insurance limits, a current lease form, a personal guarantee if the covenant has weakened), with a response date. Tenants who are going to leave usually say so now.
If re-leasing: market while the tenant is still in. Most BC commercial leases let the landlord show the premises and post a sign in the last six months; check yours. Spec sheet, floor plan, photos, walkthrough, listing on the MLS and realtor.ca (owners cannot post there; David can, through his own MLS access), SpaceList and the classifieds. The method is in how to find a commercial tenant.
Budget improvements now. Vancouver office allowances on 5-year terms commonly run $10–$40/sqft depending on condition; retail and industrial are usually as-is with a fixturing period. Negotiate from a number, not a reaction.
3 months out04
Documents, condition inspection, make-good
- Documents: a signed amending agreement on your lawyer's form, or a signed offer to lease with the lease in drafting. If neither, you are heading for a vacancy or an overholding.
- Inspection: walk the premises with the tenant and photograph walls, floors, ceilings, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, loading doors, exterior, signage; compare to the move-in report.
- Make-good: written notice of what the lease requires at expiry (trade fixtures and signage out, damage repaired, restoration to base building where the lease says so), a date for a joint inspection, and a list of improvements you want left in place.
- Deposit: what you hold and what the lease lets you apply it to.
Expiry05
Holdover, remedies and the Commercial Tenancy Act
Keys, codes, utilities, deposit statement. If the tenant has not left, do not accept rent without written overholding terms. The law on what happens next is set out in the section below; confirm every step with a lawyer.
After06
Turnover and re-lease
Complete or charge back the make-good, transfer utilities and alarm, tell your insurer the building is vacant (many policies carry a 30-day vacancy condition), and have the re-lease marketing live within a week. If the new lease is signed, manage the fixturing period like a project: permits, contractor insurance, landlord's work versus tenant's work, and a rent commencement date that is written down.

Renew, re-lease or reposition: the 9-month decision

Usually wins

Renew with the existing tenant

Good covenant, rent near market, no plans for the building

Cost: A renewal discount of 5–10% below what a new tenant would pay, sometimes a refresh allowance
Vacancy: Zero
Paperwork: Amending agreement on your lawyer's form; renewal commission commonly half the new-lease rate

Re-lease to a new tenant

Tenant is well below market, the covenant is weak, or the use is wrong

Cost: Leasing commission commonly 4–6% of lease value, improvements and free rent
Vacancy: 60–180 days plus fixturing
Paperwork: Offer to lease, then a new lease on your lawyer's form

Reposition or sell

The building earns more as a different use, subdivided, renovated, or sold

Cost: Capital, permits, a longer vacancy
Vacancy: Months to a year
Paperwork: Sale advisory, executed by Lawrence Siccia (Engel & Völkers); see the sell-or-lease page

How the two sides of the family business work together is on the sell or lease page.

At expiry: holdover, forfeiture and distress in plain language

This is general information about British Columbia law as we understand it, not legal advice. The Commercial Tenancy Act (RSBC 1996, c. 57) is a short, old statute; most of what happens at expiry is decided by the lease itself and the common law. Confirm every step below with a lawyer before acting.

The tenant stays: overholding

If the lease has an overholding clause, it controls. The usual form: month-to-month at 125–200% of the last monthly rent, on the other terms of the lease, terminable by either side on 30 days' notice. The higher rent is the point.
If it does not, and you accept rent from a tenant who has stayed on, the common-law result is generally a periodic tenancy, month-to-month if rent is paid monthly, at the same rent and on the same terms as the expired lease. That can leave a below-market tenant in place for a long time. So: no written terms, no rent accepted.
If you do not consent to the tenant remaining, they are wrongfully holding over. The Act's summary-possession provisions let a landlord apply to the BC Supreme Court for an order and a writ of possession. Faster than an ordinary lawsuit, but still a court process with affidavits and a hearing.

Forfeiture and re-entry points (s.16 and following, with the lease and the Law and Equity Act)

Follow the lease's default clause exactly. Written notice and a cure period (commonly 5–15 days for rent, longer for other breaches) before any right of re-entry arises. Re-entry without the required notice can itself be a breach by the landlord.
Accepting rent after a default can waive it. Route every payment through your lawyer once a notice is served.
The tenant can ask the court for relief from forfeiture. If arrears and costs are paid, a court will often reinstate the lease. Re-entry is rarely the end of the story on a rent default alone.
Distress and forfeiture are alternatives, not a pair. Distress (seizing the tenant's goods on the premises for arrears, under the Act's distress provisions) assumes the lease continues; forfeiture ends it. Choose one, with advice, and use a licensed bailiff.
Changing the locks is re-entry. Lawful only when the right has properly arisen, and it must be peaceable. A locked-out tenant with a colourable argument will apply to court. Most landlords are better served by the summary possession application.

The Act, the lease and the case law interact in ways that turn on wording and dates. Before you serve a default notice, refuse or accept a payment, instruct a bailiff, change a lock or file for possession, have a BC commercial leasing lawyer confirm the step. An hour of advice is small next to a wrongful re-entry claim.

The landlord's lease-expiry checklist

Commercial lease expiry checklist for a BC landlord

Print this page or copy the list into your own file. Dates are relative to the lease expiry date.

12 months out

Pull the signed lease and every amendment; confirm the expiry date and any renewal option
Diarize the tenant's option-exercise window and your own notice deadlines
Note the renewal rent mechanism (fixed, market, arbitration) and who triggers it
Get a written rent opinion against live asking rates for the asset type and city
Check the tenant's payment history, defaults and the insurance certificate on file

9 months out

Decide: renew with this tenant, re-lease to a new one, or reposition (renovate, subdivide, change use, sell)
If selling: start the sale advisory, executed by Lawrence Siccia (Engel & Völkers)
Budget tenant improvements and free rent for a new tenant versus the renewal discount for the existing one
Confirm zoning and permitted uses if the use may change

6 months out

Open renewal talks in writing with a response date, or issue the notice the lease requires
If re-leasing: spec sheet, floor plan, photos, walkthrough; listing live on realtor.ca, SpaceList and classifieds
Ask the existing tenant for a written intention to stay or go
Line up your lawyer for the renewal amendment or the new lease

3 months out

Renewal agreement or new offer to lease signed, or a vacancy plan in place
Pre-expiry condition inspection with the tenant; photograph everything
Send the tenant the make-good and restoration requirements from the lease, in writing
Confirm what fixtures and improvements stay and what the tenant removes
Deposit accounting: what is held, what may be applied

Expiry week

Final inspection, keys, access codes, alarm and utilities transfer
Written statement of deposit return or deductions
If the tenant has not left: do not accept rent without written overholding terms; call your lawyer

After

Make-good work completed or charged back per the lease
Re-lease marketing live within 7 days, or the new tenant's fixturing period starts
Tell your insurer if the building is vacant; update tax and management records for the new tenancy

Prepared by David Siccia Properties, September 2026. General information; confirm lease-specific steps with your lawyer.

What it costs and how long it takes

Swipe sideways to see the full table

Item	Market range	Source
Rent opinion / market review	Often included with a leasing engagement; $500–$1,500 stand-alone	Our experience, Metro Vancouver
Leasing commission (new tenant)	4–6% of total lease value, or about one month's rent per year of term	Published rate cards, Metro Vancouver managers, 2025–26
Renewal commission	Commonly half the new-lease rate	Our experience, Metro Vancouver
Commercial property management	3–8% of gross collected rent	Published rate cards, Metro Vancouver managers, 2025–26
Lawyer: renewal amendment	$800–$2,500	Typical Vancouver firm quotes; confirm with your lawyer
Lawyer: new lease or default proceedings	$2,000–$6,000+; litigation more	Typical Vancouver firm quotes; confirm with your lawyer
Re-leasing time	30–90 days industrial, 60–150 office, 90–180 retail, plus fixturing	Our experience and brokerage market reports

Market ranges only. David's leasing fee is typically the first and last months' rent on the lease, and ongoing management is quoted per property; see the commercial property management fee guide.

Vancouver specifics

Industrial is tight. Metro Vancouver industrial availability sits around 3–4% (brokerage market reports, 2025). A below-market industrial tenant at expiry is the case where re-leasing most often beats renewing; a correctly priced unit in Port Coquitlam, Richmond, Delta or the North Shore leases in weeks.
Office is the reverse. Suburban and older downtown office has more supply than tenants; a renewal at a modest discount usually beats a six-month vacancy.
Property tax passes through. Vancouver's Class 6 (business) rate was roughly 1.05% of assessed value in 2025 (check the current mill rate). On a net lease the tenant pays it; at renewal, update the additional-rent estimate so the new numbers are real.
Demolition and redevelopment clauses. Common along Broadway, Cambie, Kingsway and in transit-oriented areas. If your building is on a redevelopment path, keep renewals short and the clause intact.
GST. Commercial rent, overholding rent and most chargebacks attract GST; PST does not apply to rent. Confirm with your accountant. The commercial portfolio shows the buildings we are leasing and managing now, or contact us with your expiry date.

Landlord questions

Lease ending in the next 12 months?

Send the expiry date and the address. We tell you where the rent sits against the market, whether we would renew or re-lease, and what to do this month.

Get a renewal read 236-998-5841

David Siccia Properties handles leasing and management. Property sales are executed by Lawrence Siccia, REALTOR®, Engel & Völkers Vancouver.

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General information, not legal advice

This playbook describes the BC Commercial Tenancy Act, the Law and Equity Act, common-law overholding and typical Metro Vancouver lease practice as we understand them in September 2026. Leases differ and the law changes. Confirm every step, especially default notices, re-entry, distress and possession proceedings, with a BC commercial leasing lawyer, and tax questions with an accountant.