Encyclopedia
Permitted use
The uses a lease or zoning allows.
For example: A tenant makes sure the lease's permitted use covers the business. (Illustration only, not a real deal.)
Official source: Local Government Act (BC Laws)
Example only, not a real client. Say you lease a unit as a coffee shop and later want to add evening wine service. Your lease limits use to a café selling coffee and light food, so you need the landlord’s consent. Because we drafted a broader use clause at the start, you only need a simple letter rather than a renegotiation.
What I’d tell a friend
Make the permitted use in your lease broad enough to let your business grow, and check that zoning allows it too.
Why it matters to you
If the clause is narrow, you may not be able to add a product line, change your concept or sell to a buyer who runs things differently. A broad use clause makes your business, and your lease, easier to sell.
How to use it in your deal
Tenants should make the clause wide enough for how your business may evolve, including related sales and services, and any likely future uses. Confirm zoning allows the use and that the building can support it (power, ventilation, plumbing, floor loads). Check that the landlord isn't bound by exclusives that conflict.
Think about assignment: a narrow use makes it harder to sell your business. Landlords should balance flexibility with protecting other tenants and the centre's mix, and make clear the tenant is responsible for licences and permits. Buyers should check permitted uses across leases.
Before you sign, write your actual activities into the permitted use clause, including future ones you can see coming, like online sales, events or a small café counter. Changing the clause later needs the landlord's consent and they may want something for it.
Mistakes I see
Narrow wording that blocks growth. Assuming zoning allows the use. Not checking exclusives. Landlords promising uses zoning forbids.
In BC and Vancouver
The lease controls; zoning comes from municipal bylaws, and business licences from the municipality.
Official sources: CanLII (court decisions) · Zoning and Development By-law (City of Vancouver) · Business licences (City of Vancouver)
What the clause controls
The permitted use clause says what you can do in the space. Landlords use it to manage the tenant mix and protect exclusives they have given other tenants.
A narrow clause can block you from adding products or services later, and it can make your lease harder to assign when you sell the business.
Getting it right
Ask for wording that covers your current business and reasonable related uses, plus the right to change use with consent that cannot be unreasonably withheld.
The lease is only half the question. Confirm with the city that zoning and licensing allow your use before you sign.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Does the clause cover what I'll do in five years?
- Does zoning allow it?
- Do exclusives conflict?
- Can a buyer of my business use it?
Keep reading
Related terms: Zoning bylaw, Exclusive use, Business licence
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General information for British Columbia only. It isn’t legal, tax, accounting or financial advice, laws and rates change, and reading it doesn’t make you my client. Any numbers or scenarios are hypothetical. Check the linked official source and talk to a lawyer, accountant or other qualified professional before you act or sign anything. See the terms and disclaimer.