Unfortunately, fires, floods, and other casualties can happen at the shopping center or office building you own. If you’ve signed typical leases with your tenants, they probably place some limits on your restoration obligations. But after a casualty, it may not be cost effective or...
Tenants who have a high electricity consumption can pose problems that you might not have considered when negotiating your leases. And a tenant that uses a typical amount of electricity now could need more later, or sublet or assign its lease to a high-power tenant. So, the message should be in...
Continuing advances in technology have made it easier than ever for commercial real estate owners to have the most effective security equipment for their properties. But upgrading and increasing security measures is expensive. And although the right security plan can save you money from...
Performing due diligence on a prospective tenant is one way to try to determine whether the tenant is financially viable. But what if you end up leasing to a tenant that proves to be a risk, no matter how careful you thought you were when researching it? One example of a risky tenant is one that...
A strong tenant forces you to give it a self-help right—that’s the right to step into your shoes to do important repair, maintenance, or replacement work if you fail to do that work. But suppose you have warranties on your roof and other items that restrict who can perform repair,...
When a lease ends, you’ll want the tenant to completely remove any interior and exterior signage it has at its space. But that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the tenant fails to remove some or all of its signage, leaving the job for you. Other times, it removes the signage but...
The exclusive right to sell a product or provide a service at a shopping center is invaluable to a tenant. The tenant won’t have any direct competition for profits, which sometimes means that it can set prices that would otherwise have to be lower to lure customers away from other...
If you’re unsure that a prospective tenant will be able to pay its rent, getting a guaranty can assuage your fears and protect you from not being able to collect what the tenant owes. While a tenant might be able to produce a third party who’s willing to act as a guarantor on the...
You might think that if you sue a tenant that has stopped paying rent and abandoned or been evicted from its space, it’s only fair that the tenant pays you what it owes in damages. If you’re surprised to find out that some tenants end up paying only a fraction or even none of the...
Many retail space owners, and especially mall owners, give themselves a relocation right. That is, the right to relocate the tenant to a different space in the center or mall under certain circumstances. Negotiating a relocation right can be tricky—if you don’t draft this provision...
Many people don’t know that retailers—namely drug stores, grocery stores, discount department stores, home improvement stores, music stores, and book stores—have special deals with manufacturers, vendors, or suppliers to promote certain products. And that might not mean much to...
Are you fully protected if your tenant moves out at the end of its lease and leaves the space in such terrible shape that it’s unrentable right away? Your lease probably requires the tenant to pay for any costs and repairs that may be necessary, but that may not be effective to cover ...
