Don't Take on Liability for Tenant's Visitors

While owning a shopping center or office building can be very profitable, it also exposes landlords to liability for a variety of things, such as injuries. You can’t stop third parties from suing you if they’re injured after hours by someone in your building or center—but there is good news: You can protect yourself financially in other ways. For example, make a tenant pay for the actions of its visitors, agents, employees, and subtenants. And make the tenant agree to be liable if any of its visitors (or its agents, employees, and subtenants cause harm to the building or center or to anyone inside the building or center. To do so, add this language to your lease:

Model Lease Language

Tenant shall be solely responsible for all persons for whom it requests permission to enter the [Building/Center] and shall be liable to landlord for all acts of such persons.

And make sure that your lease’s indemnification clause requires the tenant to indemnify—that is, defend and reimburse you—if you’re sued by a third party in connection with any incident at your building or center caused by something the tenant or its visitors did or failed to do.