Commercial Lease Requirements and Conditions in Finland

A commercial lease agreement in Finland does not separate things with "standardized mandatory forms" as in Denmark. The freedom offered by the law (LHVL) makes the contract draft the most important document, dictating whether your investment in the business-to-business (B2B) field will get its real estate investment back without massive surprise investments, such as competing commercial center compensation lawsuits or catastrophic collateral deficiencies.

Disclaimer: This guide provides general legal information. B2B lease agreements should always be drafted by business law experts. Information last verified: March 2026.

1. Written Form Requirement

In terms of contract law, it is essential to know that LHVL § 4 sets an absolute written form requirement for a fixed-term commercial lease agreement (e.g., a binding 5-year clause). If matters have been agreed upon hastily over the phone or without papers hand-in-hand and the entrepreneur moves into the premises to operate a café, the contract is considered by default in the eyes of the law valid until further notice, whereby the entrepreneur can legally terminate the entire 5-year million-dollar investment off their hands within the framework of a standard legal (1 month) notice period.

2. Key Clause Conditions (B2B Special Issues)

Purpose of Use and VAT Status of Business

In the B2B field, the contract document must invariably (to protect the building's voluntary real estate investment VAT deduction from the Tax Administration) state for what purpose the space is rented (e.g., "IT sector VAT liable retail store").

• If the tenant secretly changes their store to massage/medical/insurance, which does NOT make VAT-deductible sales against a receipt, the entire massive landlord real estate may be forced to return million-dollar tax deductions back to the state due to the secret purpose of use. Therefore, a strong liability clause for tax damages must be attached to the condition of the contract.

Transfer Right (The right to transfer the lease to another entrepreneur)

The Finnish LHVL contains a default provision (LHVL § 39), upon which the owner typically should not rely. By default, the tenant (especially if a whole other entrepreneur's entire business with other shares is bought into new hands at the same time) may by law in special cases have permission to also transfer an ever-changing business premises lease agreement without the owner's hindrance to the new director's name. Contract Practice: Professional property owners stamp a large blocking condition to the contract: "The tenant DOES NOT HAVE the right to transfer this lease agreement or the right to use the apartment even partially to a third party (even depending on a business transaction) without the landlord's explicit prior and written new consent." This controls that your restaurant does not transfer to an unknown business ID that has no bank guarantee prerequisites as its assets!

Non-Competition Clause - "No competing services to the same target"

In B2B contracts of business centers, the owner often requires as a condition - if taking a café on lease in a shopping center - that the owner "forbids leasing other nearby sections to other new competing cafés". The lack of this in court can cause the only attraction to move immediately and blame the value of the investment company with compensation via a commercial space breach.

Cloud Service for Legal Compliance

As we saw with VAT risks, a minor deficiency in recording the transfer-right parameter into the contract appendix paper works threatens to create a tax time bomb in offices. Landager's real estate unit lease agreement generator for commercial spaces takes into account the needs of B2B Finnish laws (LHVL). Automation assembles a precise lifecycle value of 5 years by building a digital package that isolates Non-competition, Transfer-right, and Absolute bank guarantee clauses as standard - Taking them for the lessee's approval with fast Finnish Bank Authentication with the representation of the legal entity under the investment company electronically.

Back to Commercial Leases Act (Overview).