A commercial property due diligence checklist covers title, leases, physical condition, environmental risk and planning. What to request, who checks it, and how to keep the findings organised.
A commercial property due diligence checklist is the list of things a buyer verifies before committing to an office, retail unit, industrial building or mixed-use asset. It differs from buying a company: you are acquiring a physical asset and its income, so the questions centre on title, the leases that produce the rent, the building's condition, environmental liabilities and what the planning position allows. Missing one of those areas rarely shows up at completion — it shows up the first time a tenant leaves or a roof fails.
For an income-producing property, the leases are the business you are buying. Read every lease, not a summary: rent review mechanisms, break options, repairing obligations, assignment rights and any side letters. Ask tenants to confirm key terms directly through estoppel certificates, so that what the seller says matches what tenants believe they agreed. A rent roll that does not reconcile to the leases is a price conversation, not an administrative detail.
Check break dates against your financing assumptions. A tenant with a break option in eighteen months is not the same income as a tenant locked in for ten years, even if the current rent is identical.
Ettex Records suits this well: one row per checklist item with owner, status, dates and the documents attached, plus a separate issues list that feeds the negotiation. It keeps legal, survey and environmental findings in one view instead of three advisers' email threads. The wider transaction principles are the same as any due diligence checklist; the asset-specific items above are what change.
For a single asset, typically four to eight weeks once documents are available. Multi-let buildings and portfolios take longer, driven mainly by the number of leases.
The buyer usually pays for its own surveys, searches and legal review. Sellers sometimes prepare a data pack in advance to speed up the process.
Yes. Commercial due diligence focuses much more on leases, income, service charges and business use, and buyers have fewer statutory protections, so the checklist has to be more thorough.
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