This toolkit, developed by IMAA and completed in May 2020, includes a comprehensive analysis of Canadian arts organizations’ challenges in securing and maintaining affordable real estate, as well as a detailed resource toolkit of template documents, official guides, and sample documents from several Canadian arts organizations. This toolkit can be used as a resource for any non-profit arts organization that is looking to rent/purchase/design a new space for its operations to take place.

Overall, this section contains helpful documents for arts organizations to acquire rented, or purchased spaces. Included are: sample Offer to Lease documents between arts organizations and potential landlords, commercial lease agreements, license of occupation contracts, purchase and sale agreements, and land use agreements, as well as a description of each document to determine which is the most appropriate to any situation.

a. Simple Offer to Lease Terms Document – Template (Word Document)

Simple version of an Offer to Lease document.  A good starting place in negotiating with a potential landlord to articulate the key parameters the parties are willing to accept in a formal lease agreement.

b. Offer to Lease Document – Template (Word Document)

Sample Offer to Lease document template – precedes the execution of a finalized commercial lease document.

c. Form of Property Lease (Simple) – Template (Word Document)

Simple form of property lease – can be used as a template document.

d. Commercial Lease Agreement – Sample (PDF)

Sample commercial lease document between a developer and a social enterprise organization.  Nominal annual lease cost for the site.

e. Commercial Lease Document (Municipal lease for Nominal rent) – Sample (PDF)

Sample commercial lease document intended for a nominal lease site provided by the City of Vancouver to an urban farming operation.  Includes most of the standard commercial lease terms within.

f. License of Occupation Contract – Sample (PDF)

Sample form of License of Occupation agreement.  Different than a lease, it provides access to space on a defined basis for an arms-length tenant.  Useful when there is a portion of space used on a shared basis between the landlord and tenant.

g. Purchase and Sale Agreement (Complex) – Sample (Word Document)

Commercial lease example. This document represents a more complex purchase arrangement with rights of first refusal between the parties for potential future sale of a portion of the building.

h. Letter of Intent – Sample, TMAC, Toronto (PDF)

Formalized letter of intent which preceded the creation of the Purchase and Sale Agreement for the TMAC space in Toronto.  Similar to the other Offer to Lease documents included in the toolkit, this is a more complex and formalized document to lay out the parameters under which a property purchase and sale transaction would be conducted.

i. Purchase and Sale Agreement – TMAC, Toronto (PDF)

Original purchase agreement between TMAC and the developer (the City of Toronto is also party to the agreement) to transfer the property (once built) to TMAC ownership.

j. Land Use Agreement – Sample, TMAC, Toronto (PDF)

The agreement between TMAC and the City of Toronto defining how the space would be used for community benefit and creating the set of parameters for the space over the long term.