Definitions
Reserved rights are certain rights to the Premises that the Landlord desires to keep or share – and are specified in the lease. Examples of reserved rights include the right of entry to the Premises for inspection or repair by the Landlord, any legal authorities, vendors, lenders, and/or prospective purchasers or Tenants. The Landlord may reserve the right to hold events on certain portions of the Premises or to traverse the premises for skiing, hiking, family picnics, weddings, etc. The Landlord may grant a non-exclusive use of a barn to the Tenant, meaning that the Landlord and/or other specified parties can also use the barn.
Notwithstanding a Landlord’s reserved rights, the grant of a lease implies a guarantee to the Tenant of “quiet enjoyment” where the Landlord refrains from acts that substantially impair value of the leased Premises or the ability of the Tenant to engage in permitted activities.
Purpose
The purpose of this section is to ensure that both Parties are clear in advance about the rights to the Premises that the Landowner wants to keep or share.
FAQs
Reserved rights might include rights to:
- use a portion of a barn that is part of the tenant’s leasehold
- hold a party on a certain hayfield
- extract minerals
- hunt
- harvest timber
The landowner or other persons may enter the premises according to the provisions of the lease. The landowner does not have unlimited rights to enter the premises. Typically, the landlord is required to give reasonable notice to enter the premises for inspection or other purposes. If the parties agree that the landowner may enter the premises frequently and casually, this should be acknowledged in the lease. This arrangement gives the landowner a non-exclusive (shared) right to certain parts of the premises. For example, the landowner and the tenant may agree in the lease to have the landowner visit periodically to jointly inspect the premises, or the landowner may permit certain individuals to use an access road crossing the fields.
The landowner may want to use the premises or a portion for certain purposes. If so, and if the tenant agrees, the lease should specify those purposes and who the additional users – beyond the tenant – will be. For example, the landowner may reserve the right to hold a wedding or barn dance within the leased premises. Or s/he may want to give the right to use one stall of a barn within the leasehold to a neighbor. If the landowner wants to retain the right to drive on any portion of the premises (such as to access another part of his or her property), this should be spelled out as a reserved right in the lease.
Example Text
These text examples (in italics) illustrate what you might include in parts of this section. Example text is not intended as “sample” or “model” language, or as “best practice.” You may copy and paste example text into the template, then modify it for your working lease document. Or you can learn from the examples in order to develop your own text.
- Inspection. The Lessor reserves the right to enter the Premises for the purpose of inspection. S/he shall provide the Tenant with 24-hour advance notice via email or phone.
- Crossing the property. The Lessee agrees to the Lessor’s right to drive or walk at any time across Pasture B to access the woods and fishing stream at the south boundary, provided that no animals are grazing there at that time.
- Limited use of infrastructure. The Lessor and his/her family may hold up to 3 events per year in the lower level of the barn provided advance notice is given to the Lessee and any furniture and other materials associated with the event are removed within 24 hours of each event.
- Quiet Enjoyment. The Lessee shall peaceably and quietly hold and enjoy the Premises and all rights and privileges thereto during the term(s) of the Lease.