MAJOR changes to the way business leases are drawn up should help de-mystify the lettings process but need to be approached with caution.

Craig Powell, from national chartered surveyors Humberts, made the comments following new rules introduced by the Land Registry and aimed at ensuring applications are processed more efficiently.

All new leases must contain a set of standard details, known as prescribed clauses, covering 14 key points such as the term of the lease, parties involved, prohibitions and covenants.

These will have to appear at the beginning of any commercial and residential leases running for seven years or more, as well as certain shorter leases, so key points can be seen at a glance.

This information will be used by the Land Registry to prepare the register entries to complete registration of the lease and the registry is warning that failing to complete these exactly as it sets out will mean it refuses to register the lease.

Craig, senior associate at Humberts' Southampton office, said: "The prescribed clauses will potentially make it simpler to understand a lease that is 40 or 50 pages long, because there will be a couple of pages summary at the start.

"This means that if you are a tenant or a landlord and not a legal professional you will be able to pick up a lease and get a good idea of what it entails in the first couple of pages. It will remove some of the jargon and legalese."

He said although the changes could make leases more straightforward for landlords and tenants to understand, as well as easier for legal professionals to re-draft or analyse leases, they needed to be approached with caution.