Q: I’ve allowed relatively strong tenants in my shopping center to give me a letter of credit for their security deposits. Now, a small tenant is asking for the same arrangement. The products the tenant sells would be important for...
Before you rent space to a labor union tenant, make sure that you’re willing to agree to lease requirements that are unique to that type of tenant. Here are examples of what to expect during lease negotiations:
If a prospective tenant asks to rent space in your center beginning on a day past the first of the month, you should prorate the rent for the remainder of the month. Spell this out in the lease carefully. Otherwise, you and the tenant could end up in a dispute over which calculation method to...
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...
Under certain circumstances, you could get stuck with a big bill for a brokerage commission or transfer taxes if your tenant assigns its lease or sublets its space. For example, you may have a listing agreement with a broker that entitles it to a commission for any transaction involving your...
If your lease with a tenant that’s making improvements or doing other construction in its space requires the tenant to give you documents—a certificate of occupancy from your local government, contractor affidavits, or lien waivers—to prove that the work was done properly, you...
Q: The leases I signed with several tenants at my shopping center didn’t mention online sales in the gross sales exclusion provisions in the lease. I recently started mentioning online sales in my leases, but I think that other, new...
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...
Q: I’d like to make changes to the appearance of my shopping center, but under the lease with one of my tenants, the tenant has to give its consent to the changes before I can make them. I believe the changes won’t affect the...
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....
Q: If my tenant causes damage to the space it rents from me, or is responsible for accidents or injuries that happen there, it’s only fair that the tenant should pay for them. Is there a way to make the tenant pay for damage it causes...
A new National Association of Realtors (NAR) report is crediting sluggish job creation and a lack of loan availability for slow CRE recovery. The NAR study noted that, in particular, vacancy rates in the office sector are expected to fall from an estimated 16.1 percent in the third quarter of...
