What a make-good clause is
A make-good (or reinstatement) clause sets out the condition you must return the tenancy in when the lease ends. Commonly that means returning it to something like its original or base-building condition — partitions out, services removed, damage repaired — though the exact standard varies widely from lease to lease. Some require a full strip back to bare slab and ceiling grid; others only require removal of specific items; some allow for negotiation or a payment instead.
Nothing here is legal advice. The wording of your clause, and any condition reports or licence documents attached to the lease, determine what you actually owe. Read them early and get professional advice on anything unclear.
What make-good commonly covers
Tenants tend to picture make-good as removing partitions and furniture. Clauses are usually broader than that, and commonly extend to things installed for your occupancy that you no longer see:
- Cabling above the ceilings — data, security and AV cabling installed for your fit-out, running through the ceiling void and risers.
- Installed security systems — readers, cameras, controllers, detectors and their wiring.
- Supplementary equipment — added air conditioning, kitchen plumbing, AV hardware, signage.
- Alterations to base building — penetrations through walls and slabs, modified ceilings, changes to fire services made for your layout.
- Repair of damage from removal of all of the above.
Why landlords enforce it
Because every departing tenant who leaves cabling and equipment behind makes the next fit-out harder. Ceiling voids in older tenancies can carry generations of abandoned cable, and someone eventually pays to remove it. Landlords would rather that someone be the tenant who installed it, and the lease gives them the mechanism: works done at the landlord's direction, at the landlord's contractor's rates, recovered from the tenant or the bond.
That last part is the practical point. If you do nothing, the make-good still happens — you just lose control of who does it, when, and at what price.
Your options as a tenant
- Do the works yourself, early. Scope the defit against the clause, use your own contractors, and schedule it inside your lease term on your timetable. Almost always the cheapest path, because you control the pricing and the program.
- Negotiate the obligation. Landlords sometimes reduce or waive parts of the make-good — particularly if an incoming tenant wants the fit-out, or elements of it, left in place. Any such agreement should be specific and in writing.
- Agree a cash settlement. Paying the landlord an agreed sum instead of doing the works. Clean and fast — but only a fair deal if you know what the works would genuinely cost, which means pricing them independently first.
- Negotiate at lease signing. If you are reading this before signing a new lease: the make-good clause is most movable before anyone has signed anything. It is worth the conversation.
Which option suits you depends on your lease, your landlord and your dates — general information only; get advice on your specific position.
Why the technology defit gets forgotten
Defit quotes are usually sought from demolition and strip-out contractors, whose scope is the visible tenancy: partitions, ceilings, floor coverings, joinery. The cabling above the ceiling and the systems on the walls sit in a gap — too technical for the strip-out crew, too invisible to make the scope document. So they get missed, and surface later as a variation or a bond deduction.
There is a second, quieter problem: the equipment coming out is not rubbish. Recorders hold footage, controllers hold staff credentials, network gear holds configuration. Removing it is a security task as much as a demolition task, and it deserves a contractor who treats it that way.
Practical steps before lease end
- Pull out the lease and read the make-good clause and any attached condition report. Get advice on anything ambiguous.
- Walk the tenancy and list everything installed for your occupancy — including above the ceiling tiles.
- Separate what migrates to your next office from what gets removed. Equipment worth keeping should be decommissioned properly, not abandoned with the plasterboard.
- Get the technology defit priced as its own scope, alongside the builder's strip-out — so the two quotes together cover the whole clause.
- Ask the landlord early what they actually want. Sometimes it is less than the clause allows them to demand; sometimes an incoming tenant changes the picture entirely.
- Document the finished defit with photos and a schedule of works. Your bond negotiation is only as strong as your evidence.