In this economy, it’s tough enough to fill your center with tenants, without inadvertently letting existing ones sublet space to businesses and restaurants that compete with your leasing efforts. For example, if you’re searching for a tenant to fill vacant restaurant space at your...
Generally, commercial leases require tenants to return space in the same condition as it was rented to them. There’s some leeway for “ordinary wear and tear” to the space. But there are several ways that a tenant can negatively affect you when it moves out, or “surrenders...
Generally, commercial property owners provide cleaning services to tenants. They typically hire and use a cleaning contractor that they choose. However, specialty tenants sometimes ask that they be allowed to hire their own, separate cleaning contractor. Tenants that have confidential...
Owners often give tenants a “free rent” concession—that is, a portion of the term of a lease when no rent is required—to entice them to lease space. For example, in order to attract tenants to your new office building, you might offer a three-month rent-free period to...
Many important events and options for you and your commercial tenant are measured from your lease’s commencement date. The commencement date controls critical information, such as when the lease will expire, when rent starts, and when the tenant’s special options must be exercised....
An exclusive use clause is a highly valuable clause in a tenant’s lease because it will grant the tenant the sole right to sell certain products or operate a certain type of business in the shopping center where it rents space.
In a good economy, where commercial properties enjoy low vacancy rates, owners can more easily avoid giving termination rights to tenants. But in the past few years, more tenants have been negotiating to get them. Allowing a tenant to terminate its lease should be a last and final resort;...
Before a prospective tenant signs a lease for space in your shopping center, it will want to know certain information about the center to make sure that the space will be advantageous to its business. The information it's interested in will most likely include items like the location of the...
Struggling tenants sometimes must prioritize which creditors to pay each month. If they think you'll put up with late rent, they may put you at the bottom of the list. If you don't want to lose the tenant for some reason—for example, the loss will upset the tenant mix or co-tenancy...
Commercial real estate law has been applied largely the same way for hundreds of years, since feudal times. But a recent opinion by the Court of Appeals of New York, regarding a dispute between a Manhattan movie theater tenant and the owner of the building where it rented space for its multiplex...
Keeping the operating costs that you pass through to tenants low gives your shopping center or office building a competitive edge. So, to keep insurance costs low while making sure that you have adequate coverage, consider a policy with low premiums and a high deductible. But if you pass through...
Don't be surprised if a prospective tenant—especially one with a growing business—asks for an expansion option in its lease. This clause reserves space owned by you, typically contiguous to the tenant's, when it becomes available. An expansion option is valuable to a tenant...
