Don't Limit Your Right to Enter Tenant's Space

Sometimes commercial property owners mistakenly believe that their access clause gives them the right to enter a tenant’s space to inspect it for potential problems. But that isn’t always the case. If the wording in your access clause is similar to that in many standard leases, you may not have the right to enter the tenant’s space to inspect it, for example, a water leak. You can inspect, but only if you make repairs, replacements, or improvements at the same time.

For example, after buying an office building in New York City, the new owner wanted to look at some building equipment located in a tenant’s space. The lease, which came from the Real Estate Board of New York—gave the owner the right to enter the space at any time to “examine the same and to make repairs, replacements, and improvements.” When the owner sent the tenant a notice that it wanted to enter its space to look at the equipment, the tenant refused to let the owner in, arguing that the lease limited the owner’s right to enter only if it planned to inspect and repair. But the owner’s notice only mentioned an inspection of the basement. The owner and tenant became embroiled in a bitter lawsuit. Although the case was eventually settled, the owner had to waste a lot of time and money.

How can property owners avoid this problem? If the lease form you are currently using gives you the right of entry to “examine and repair, simple change it to “examine or repair” in your future leases. By simply changing “and” to “or,” you can gain access to a tenant’s space to inspect the space or to make repairs—but you are not required to do both.

Below is some Model Lease Language for an access clause you may want to review with your attorney before adding it to your future leases.

Model Lease Language
Landlord, its agents, employees, and contractors may enter the Premises at any time in response to an emergency, and at other reasonable times to (a) inspect the Premises, or (b) make such repairs, replacements, and improvements as Landlord may deem necessary and reasonably desirable to the Premises or to any other portion of the Building or which Landlord may elect to perform.