A commercial tenant's negotiating power very often depends on its size. This is especially true about tenants who are “big-box” stores—for example, Wal-Mart, Sears, or Target. But a new trend, the opening of big-box “concept stores,” has commercial owners...
Commercial real estate activity has been set back by a combination of the nation's general economic downturn and a severe credit crunch. In fact, according to a forward-looking index, the forecast for commercial real estate sectors will remain weak for the remainder of 2009.
If a tenant with a successful Web site turns its store into a service center, a display room, or merely a counter where customers can return or exchange purchases from its Web site, there may be no merchandise for sale—and that could spell bad news for your bottom line. The service center...
Pay telephones can be a good source of additional revenue. Despite the popularity of cell phones, many people still rely on pay phones because they don't have a cell phone or it isn't working properly. But your lease may not give you the unfettered right to install pay phones on the...
If attorney Jerry Slusky could create the perfect commercial lease, it would always include language about mediation. And in an ideal commercial leasing environment, mediation would be used to resolve nearly all disputes.
“Real estate, in particular, lends itself to mediation,...
There are unique considerations in leasing space to a physician or medical group that don't come into play with standard office leasing. You should address those issues specifically in your lease to avoid unnecessary ambiguities.
With the summer approaching fast, power outages can be a daily occurrence. If the power in your area is shut off, tenants with an axe to grind might try to sue you for any resulting damage to its equipment and business. Or the tenant could argue that it has been “constructively evicted...
Given the precarious credit situation of many tenants today, it is more important than ever that a tenant's security deposit be as secure as possible and immunized from the consequences of a tenant bankruptcy. There are several techniques owners can...
Although there are tenants out there that are looking to lease commercial space, in today's economy they're much harder to find and, in some cases, even harder to maintain. That was one of the results of a spotcheck on the state of the industry conducted by the Insider.
Franchisor tenants in today's market are demanding that their leases give them ample freedom to sublet or assign to any franchisee they choose without your prior consent. Franchisors make this demand because they don't want you putting any limitations on which franchisees they can do...
