Choosing premises for your clinic: the key checks before signing

Signing for the premises: the decision that defines the entire opening

Signing the lease on the premises is the first irreversible decision in opening a clinic. Everything before it—the business plan, the specialty, the range of treatments—can be changed at no cost. From the signature onward, a monthly rent, a deposit already paid and, often, a guarantee are running, and an opening strings together months of works and procedures before the first patient. Every later decision is made within the walls you have just chosen.

Premises for healthcare use are assessed with their own criteria, and the requirements also vary across the four sectors we work in. Aesthetic medicine needs a medical director registered with the medical association, and dentistry adds an X-ray installation. Plastic surgery requires an operating room authorization, the slowest permit of all. A beauty center operates, in most cases, with a municipal activity license (licencia de actividad). The same premises that work for a beauty center do not meet the conditions an operating room requires.

That is why it pays to separate two assessments: the premises as a space and the premises as a clinic. The second is completed before signing, while no rent is running yet.

This analysis answers three questions to settle before signing the contract. The first is what a technician examines beyond a viewing, and the second, in what order to check it so you can rule premises out at the lowest cost. The third is what to sign to keep your freedom to decide if the authorities are slow to respond.

Two identical premises, five decisive differences

Two premises on the same street match in floor area and rent, and both are empty and at street level. The question is which of the two can house a clinic.

The first difference is the zoning use: one allows the healthcare use you want to establish and the other does not. That depends on urban planning and municipal regulations, not on the condition of the premises. It is the first question worth asking, even though it is often left until the end.

If both allow that use, the comparison moves to a second variable.

The premises with enough clear ceiling height work better: a clinic has a suspended ceiling, and the air conditioning, ventilation and installations run through it. Premises with a tight ceiling force you to choose between lowering the height to an uncomfortable level or giving up part of the installations.

With the height settled in both premises, a third variable comes into play.

Having sufficient utility connections makes the difference: electrical capacity that can be contracted, and water and drainage reachable from where the treatment rooms will be. Running a new drain to the back of the premises means floor works. Increasing electrical capacity depends on the utility company and the street’s infrastructure, not on the project schedule.

If both have sufficient utility connections, a fourth variable remains to be analyzed.

The better choice is the premises that can be made accessible: a level entrance or room for a ramp, a usable route to the treatment rooms and space for an accessible restroom. A twenty-centimeter step on a narrow storefront may have no technical solution.

If they also match on accessibility, one last variable remains: the building and its neighbors. The bylaws of the owners’ association (comunidad de propietarios) can restrict activities, and air extraction or opening hours may require agreements with third parties.

These five differences determine whether premises are fit for healthcare use. None of the five can be seen on an ordinary viewing, and all five are confirmed before signing, in this order.

Three stages of checks, ordered from lowest to highest cost

Each check takes time and resources, so the order matters: first, what rules premises out at no cost; next, what requires a technical visit; last, what requires a project.

First, what you can look up at no cost. The zoning use and the municipal conditions for opening are confirmed at the city council (ayuntamiento), and the answer rules out entire premises in an afternoon. At the same time, ask the owner for the documentation on the premises: the license for the previous use, the installation certificates and any open file. Premises with the previous license in order start with the application file half done; premises without documentation start from zero.

Second, the visit with a technician. It is the job of the architect or engineer who will sign your technical project, not of the promoter on their own. In an hour on site, they measure heights, locate where the installations can run, assess whether accessibility can be solved and confirm whether the layout you need will fit. It is the best investment of the entire search and, even so, the one most often put off because nothing has been signed yet.

Third, what can only be known with figures. This is where you confirm the available electrical capacity with the utility company, the feasibility of air extraction and drainage, and the real fit-out budget. With that data, premises are no longer compared by rent but by their cost to get up and running, which is the right criterion.

Condition precedent: the clause that protects your signature on the lease

Even with every check done, a residual risk remains: months go by between the signature and the license, and unforeseen problems can arise in that time. The tool to cover that risk is contractual, and it is agreed before signing.

The core of it is the condition precedent tied to obtaining the permits (condición suspensiva): the contract is void, with everything paid returned, if the health authorization or the municipal license is not granted. With it, an administrative setback is resolved in a few weeks and you are free to consider other premises.

Alongside that clause, it pays to settle four points of the contract at the same time:

• The deadline. It must be realistic: an opening schedule strings together works, licenses and authorizations, and the authorities’ timelines are the least controllable variable of the entire opening. A generous deadline keeps the protection effective throughout the procedure.
• A rent-free period during the works. These are months without payment while the premises cannot be used. It is negotiable, and you get better terms when you negotiate it from the start.
• Who pays for the fit-out and what happens to it when the contract ends. If you finance the works, it should be offset in rent or in the length of the lease.
• The term and the renewals. A clinic pays off its works over years, and a lease of sufficient length protects that investment.

All four are raised and settled before signing, while there is real room to negotiate them.

Six points settled on the day you sign

What you should have documented on the day you sign:

1. Confirmation that the use you need is permitted in those premises, obtained from the city council and not from the owner’s word.
2. Documentation on the premises and the previous use, with the certificates for its installations.
3. A report from the technician who will sign your technical project, issued after their visit to the premises.
4. A fit-out budget, which lets you compare premises by total cost and not by rent.
5. The utility company’s answer on the available electrical capacity.
6. A lease with a condition precedent, a realistic deadline, a rent-free period during the works and a term in line with the investment.

Premises that pass those six points are confirmed as fit for a clinic; assessing them as a business, by price and area, is a separate analysis. The order is as decisive as the premises themselves: signing with those six answers in hand gives the whole opening a solid footing.

The right premises, checked before signing by the team that will process their license

The checks in this article take days, and signing the lease commits you for years. They are best done by whoever will later process the license for those same premises.

In our Opening service line, our team of consultants analyzes the premises for the use they will have, handles the license and the health authorization, and directs the opening up to the first patient appointment.

We have worked only with clinics and beauty centers since 1999. Bring the address of the premises you are considering to the initial meeting.