Once you’ve evaluated your warehouse options and selected a warehouse, you’ll be ready to sign a lease.
First ask for the country program’s lease template and use that. This should have been reviewed by local council and meet all HQ standards.
If there is no CP, or they don’t have a template, and the region doesn’t have one they want you to use, use the following template:
Contract – Warehouse or Facilities
If a potential landlord presents you with a lease he’d like to use, use the tool linked below, the lease checklist, to check it against our policies. Then, if anything is missing from the landlord’s lease, try to add it.
Lease Agreement Review Checklist
There are two things you should do before discussing any lease:
- Find out about Typical Terms and Conditions in the Area
Talk to other NGOs/partner organizations in the area before discussing a lease with the owner, to get an idea of rental prices and any special terms/conditions that may be considered normal for that area.
- Discuss and List Renovation Plans
Before signing a lease, make sure to discuss with the landlord any renovations you plan to undertake. Discuss them in detail. List improvements that CRS will be leaving behind once the lease is over (e.g., permanent structures, plumbing and wiring improvements) and what CRS will take with it (e.g. solar panels, generators, water storage tanks, water heaters). You’ll want to make sure you and the landlord are on the same page.
Some renovations may be highly valued by the owner, and if so, the anticipated value of these additions can be used to negotiate a reduced rental rate, a longer lease, or better renewal conditions.
In other cases, the owner may want aspects of his property restored to their original state and we should know that before we enter into the contract.
All renovations and agreements about how the property will be left must be detailed in the lease.
When you’ve signed the lease, the first thing you’ll want to do is assure the safety and security of the facility.