Commercial Property Standard Enquiries simplified

The Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSEs) were introduced in October 2002 with the aim of speeding up commercial property transactions for lawyers, and more importantly, clients. Form CPSE 1 is designed to cover all commercial property transactions, whether freehold or leasehold, vacant or tenanted.

The following supplemental enquiries are intended to be used in conjunction with CPSE1:

CPSE 2: where the property is sold subject to commercial tenancies.

CPSE 3: where a lease of a property is being granted.

CPSE 4: where the property is being sold is leasehold.

CPSE 5: where a lease of a property is being surrendered.

Dealing with the above preliminary enquiries is probably a client’s least favourite part of any transaction as providing the replies is often a time consuming process.

However, to make the process of replying to the enquiries easier, we have created a suite of documents containing pre-populated replies which we hope will make the process less burdensome.

It is important that our pre-populated replies are reviewed, as a seller may be liable in misrepresentation for an incorrect reply. Depending on whether the misrepresentation was fraudulent, negligent, careless or incorrect and depending on the terms of the contract, the remedies available are rescission and/or damages. Furthermore, the seller has an ongoing duty to correct a reply if it subsequently becomes untrue.

We hope that the process can be streamlined to speed up the transaction but still provide the buyer with a robust set of replies on which they can rely.