Questions

Can I get pre-approved for an art lease if I have not yet selected a painting?

Yes, you can. Just complete and sign the application on this page and fax it or scan it and email it to us. Fill in a maximum price for a painting and we will provide you with various payments options.

How do I apply?

Just print off and complete the application on this web-site. If this is not convenient, phone, email or fax us to send you an application by snail mail or fax. You would then complete the application, sign it and fax it back to us or scan it and send it by email. If you have already selected a painting, please include the name of the gallery on the top of the page so we can contact them. If you prefer, you can give your completed application to your gallery to send along to us.

How do I make payments?

We process your payment each month from your bank by Pre-authorized payment/debit (PAP). The date is usually the day you pick up the art, but we can accommodate another date of the month if you request this. Regretfully, we do not accept credit card payments.

How long does it take to put together an art lease?

From the time we get the application, it is certainly possible for a lease to be completed in 24 hours. Once you decide to do a lease, the stages are: 1. complete and send in the application 2. We notify you of arrival and confirm amount of payments 3. The gallery invoices us and we prepare the lease 4. We send the lease, usually to the gallery 5. You go to the gallery to sign the lease and pick up the art.

How much will the lease cost?

Once you know the cost of your artwork before GST/HST, then put that amount in our lease calculator on this web-site. It will show you the monthly payment for your lease before and after taxes in various provinces. You will see that the payments are for leases of different lengths. These are our standard rates upon approval of credit. For leases larger than this amount, please contact us for a quote.

Is ArtLease for companies and individuals?

Yes, we do artwork leases to people and to companies. Both find it a convenient way to budget for art acquisitions.

Is there a buy-out or residual payment at the end of a lease?

There is a small buy-out at the end of the lease and when this is paid, we will transfer ownerhip of the art to you. Please look at the Monthly Payment calculator to show you the buy-out for the cost of a paimting you enter.

Is there any way to end a lease early?

If you want to finish a lease, you would contact us and ask for the pay-out amount. We calculate pay-outs at principal left owing on the lease. So you would save the interest on the remaining payments. There is no penalty. Provincial and federal sales taxes are added to the principal amount as required. You would probaly want to also pay the buy-out and keep the artwork.

Is this a rental?

No, this is a lease-to-purchase arrangement.

What are the lease amounts available?

We will do a lease on 100% of the cost of artwork from $500 to $25,000 and are happy to consider larger amounts if you contact us. A lease can be for one or more pieces of art at a time. The lease can be 12 to 60 months.

What happens if the artwork is damaged while I have it on a lease?

The company or business leasing artwork is responsible for its safety. Therefore, the lease requires that you include it in your assets insured. In the event the art is damaged or destroyed, you are responsible for the lease payments until the end of the lease unless the insurance covers the amount.

What is the tax position on lease payments?

The current tax position on leases is that, if they represent a valid business expense for your business, then they are 100% tax deductible. That is, lease payments generally are tax deductible. Therefore, if you are leasing to acquire artwork for your offices, then the lease payment is a business expense. If the artwork is for your personal use, then the lease is not tax deductible. These tax rules are the same as would apply to leasing equipment.

What tax rate do I pay on lease payments?

You pay taxes based on the province where the artwork is to have its home. So if you find the art you want to lease in one province but you live in a different province, it is the province where you and the art will live that is the one we use to calculate the taxes on payments. The monthly payment before tax is calculated based on the cost of the art before tax.

Where can I get the art-work to lease?

We can do a lease with any art gallery in Canada. We have established relationships with the ones we have links to on our site. However, if you have a piece of art that you would like from any gallery, just let us know and we will call them. We will explain the process and they will probably be agreeable to selling the painting to us to lease to you!

Where do you do art leases?

We can do a lease for someone in any province or territory in Canada. We can also do a lease for someone in the United States as long as they have a bank account that allows a monthly pre-authorized payment in Canadian dollars. Usually this will be a USD account that processes a CAD payment.

Will I own the art work at the end of the lease?

Yes. Once all the payments are made, then the title to the artwork goes to you. We send you confirmation that the painting is your property at the end of the lease.