Do you own land, maybe with worn out residential or commercial property on it? One method to extract worth from the land is to sign a ground lease. This will allow you to make earnings and potentially capital gains. In this post, we'll explore,

- What is a Ground Lease?

• How to Structure Them - Examples of Ground Leases
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Commercial Lease Calculator
• How Assets America Can Help
• Frequently Asked Questions
  
  What is a Ground Lease?
  
  In a ground lease (GL), a tenant develops a piece of land throughout the lease duration. Once the lease ends, the tenant turns over the residential or commercial property improvements to the owner, unless there is an exception.
  
  Importantly, the occupant is accountable for paying all residential or commercial property taxes during the lease duration. The inherited enhancements allow the owner to sell the residential or commercial property for more money, if so wanted.
  
  Common Features
  
  Typically, a ground lease lasts from 35 to 99 years. Normally, the lessee takes a lease on some raw or prepared land and constructs a building on it. Sometimes, the land has a structure already on it that the lessee should destroy.
  
  The GL specifies who owns the land and the improvements, i.e., residential or commercial property that the lessee constructs. Typically, the lessee controls and diminishes the improvements during the lease duration. That control reverts to the owner/lessor upon the expiration of the lease.
  
  Apply For Financing
  
  Ground Lease Subordination
  
  One crucial aspect of a ground lease is how the lessee will fund improvements to the land. A key arrangement is whether the proprietor will agree to subordinate his concern on claims if the lessee defaults on its debt.
  
  That's specifically what occurs in a subordinated ground lease. Thus, the residential or commercial property deed ends up being security for the lending institution if the lessee defaults. In return, the landlord requests higher rent on the residential or commercial property.
  
  Alternatively, an unsubordinated ground lease maintains the landlord's leading priority claims if the leaseholder defaults on his payments. However this might prevent loan providers, who wouldn't be able to occupy in case of default. Accordingly, the property manager will usually charge lower rent on unsubordinated ground leases.
  
  How to Structure a Ground Lease
  
  A ground lease is more complicated than regular commercial leases. Here are some components that go into structuring a ground lease:
  
  1. Term
  
  The lease needs to be adequately long to enable the lessee to amortize the cost of the improvements it makes. To put it simply, the lessee must make sufficient revenues during the lease to spend for the lease and the improvements. Furthermore, the lessee should make a reasonable return on its investment after paying all costs.
  
  The most significant chauffeur of the lease term is the funding that the lessee arranges. Normally, the lessee will want a term that is 5 to 10 years longer than the loan amortization schedule.
  
  On a 30-year mortgage, that suggests a lease regard to at least 35 to 40 years. However, junk food ground leases with shorter amortization periods may have a 20-year lease term.
  
  2. Rights and Responsibilities
  
  Beyond the arrangements for paying rent, a ground lease has numerous unique features.
  
  For example, when the lease expires, what will happen to the enhancements? The lease will define whether they revert to the lessor or the lessee must eliminate them.
  
  Another feature is for the lessor to assist the lessee in getting needed licenses, licenses and zoning variances.
  
  3. Financeability
  
  The lending institution should draw on safeguard its loan if the lessee defaults. This is difficult in an unsubordinated ground lease due to the fact that the lessor has first top priority in the case of default. The loan provider just deserves to declare the leasehold.
  
  However, one solution is a clause that needs the successor lessee to use the loan provider to fund the brand-new GL. The subject of financeability is intricate and your legal professionals will require to wade through the numerous complexities.
  
  Remember that Assets America can assist fund the building and construction or restoration of industrial residential or commercial property through our network of private investors and banks.
  
  4. Title Insurance
  
  The lessee must set up title insurance coverage for its leasehold. This requires special recommendations to the routine owner's policy.
  
  5. Use Provision
  
  Lenders desire the broadest usage provision in the lease. Basically, the provision would enable any legal function for the residential or commercial property. In this method, the lender can more quickly sell the leasehold in case of default.
  
  The lessor might have the right to permission in any brand-new function for the residential or commercial property. However, the loan provider will look for to limit this right. If the lessor feels strongly about prohibiting specific usages for the residential or commercial property, it ought to specify them in the lease.
  
  6. Casualty and Condemnation
  
  The lending institution manages insurance coverage proceeds coming from casualty and condemnation. However, this might contravene the basic phrasing of a ground lease, which offers some control to the lessor.
  
  Unsurprisingly, lenders want the insurance coverage continues to go toward the loan, not residential or commercial property remediation. Lenders also require that neither lessors nor lessees can end ground leases due to a casualty without their permission.
  
  Regarding condemnation, lenders insist upon taking part in the procedures. The lending institution's requirements for using the condemnation profits and managing termination rights mirror those for casualty events.
  
  7. Leasehold Mortgages
  
  These are mortgages funding the lessee's enhancements to the ground lease residential or commercial property. Typically, loan providers balk at lessor's maintaining an unsubordinated position with respect to default.
  
  If there is a pre-existing mortgage, the mortgagee should agree to an SNDA agreement. Usually, the GL loan provider wants first top priority concerning subtenant defaults.
  
  Moreover, lending institutions need that the ground lease stays in force if the lessee defaults. If the lessor sends a notification of default to the lessee, the loan provider needs to receive a copy.
  
  Lessees want the right to obtain a leasehold mortgage without the loan provider's consent. Lenders desire the GL to function as collateral should the lessee default.
  
  Upon foreclosure of the residential or commercial property, the lending institution receives the lessee's leasehold interest in the residential or commercial property. Lessors may wish to limit the type of entity that can hold a leasehold mortgage.
  
  8. Rent Escalation
  
  Lessors desire the right to increase leas after specified periods so that it preserves market-level rents. A "ratchet" boost provides the lessee no protection in the face of an economic downturn.
  
  Ground Lease Example
  
  As an example of a ground lease, think about one signed for a Starbucks drive-through shipping container store in Portland.
  
  Starbucks' idea is to sell decommissioned shipping containers as an eco-friendly option to standard construction. The first shop opened in Seattle, followed by Kansas City, Denver, Chicago, and one in Portland, OR.
  
  It was a rather uncommon ground lease, because it was a 10-year triple-net ground lease with four 5-year choices to extend.
  
  This gives the GL an optimal regard to thirty years. The lease escalation stipulation provided for a 10% lease boost every five years. The lease value was just under $1 million with a cap rate of 5.21%.
  
  The preliminary lease terms, on an annual basis, were:
  
  - 09/01/2014 - 08/31/2019 @ $52,000.
• 09/01/2019 - 08/31/2024 @ $57,200.
• 09/01/2024 - 08/31/2029 @ $62,920.
• 09/01/2029 - 08/31/2034 @ $69,212.
• 09/01/2034 - 08/31/2039 @ $76,133.
• 09/01/2039 - 08/31/2044 @ $83,747
  
  Ground Lease Pros & Cons
  
  Ground leases have their advantages and disadvantages.
  
  The advantages of a ground lease include:
  
  Affordability: Ground leases allow renters to build on residential or commercial property that they can't pay for to buy. Large store like Starbucks and Whole Foods use ground leases to expand their empires. This allows them to grow without saddling the business with excessive debt. No Down Payment: Lessees do not need to put any money down to take a lease. This stands in plain contrast to residential or commercial property purchasing, which may require as much as 40% down. The lessee gets to conserve cash it can release somewhere else. It likewise enhances its return on the leasehold investment. Income: The lessor gets a of earnings while maintaining ownership of the land. The lessor maintains the value of the earnings through the use of an escalation clause in the lease. This entitles the lessor to increase rents occasionally. Failure to pay rent gives the lessor the right to evict the occupant.
  
  The downsides of a ground lease include:
  
  Foreclosure: In a subordinated ground lease, the owner risks of losing its residential or commercial property if the lessee defaults. Taxes: Had the owner merely sold the land, it would have received capital gains treatment. Instead, it will pay common business rates on its lease income. Control: Without the necessary lease language, the owner may lose control over the land's development and use. Borrowing: Typically, ground leases forbid the lessor from obtaining against its equity in the land throughout the ground lease term.
  
  Ground Lease Calculator
  
  This is a great commercial lease calculator. You get in the area, rental rate, and representative's fee. It does the rest.
  
  How Assets America Can Help
  
  Assets America ® will organize financing for industrial tasks beginning at $20 million, without any upper limit. We invite you to contact us for more details about our complete monetary services.
  
  We can assist fund the purchase, building and construction, or renovation of industrial residential or commercial property through our network of private financiers and banks. For the best in business realty funding, Assets America ® is the clever option.
  
  - What are the different types of leases?
  
  They are gross leases, modified gross leases, single net leases, double net leases and triple net leases. The likewise include outright leases, percentage leases, and the topic of this article, ground leases. All of these leases provide benefits and disadvantages to the lessor and lessee.
  
  - Who pays residential or commercial property taxes on a ground lease?
  
  Typically, ground leases are triple net. That implies that the lessee pays the residential or commercial property taxes throughout the lease term. Once the lease ends, the lessor becomes accountable for paying the residential or commercial property taxes.
  
  - What happens at the end of a ground lease?
  
  The land constantly goes back to the lessor. Beyond that, there are 2 possibilities for the end of a ground lease. The very first is that the lessor takes belongings of all enhancements that the lessee made during the lease. The second is that the lessee needs to destroy the enhancements it made.
  mainstreet.com
  - For how long do ground leases normally last?
  
  Typically, a ground lease term encompasses at lease 5 to ten years beyond the leasehold mortgage. For example, if the lessee takes a 30-year mortgage on its improvements, the lease term will run for a minimum of 35 to 40 years. Some ground leases extend as far as 99 years.
  blogspot.com