A commercial lease can be full of landmines and hidden costs, disguised as “standard” language. 

As in every transaction, each party to that transaction should protect his/her own interests.  Commercial leases are usually drafted by Landlords, or the Landlord’s agent, who has the experience, knowledge and responsibility to protect the Landlord’s interests.  Accordingly, as a potential tenant, you are wise to use your own representative whose primary goal is to insure YOUR welfare is protected.  A well-qualified tenant rep broker will do just that. . . .

Besides the rental rate, there are many concepts in a lease that, if left unaddressed, can be detrimental to the tenant.  Some of these relate to the building’s cost of operating, (and escalations related thereto), the services provided by the building’s management, both the provision and management of tenant improvement contributions, parking issues, and basic rights of a tenant that are often overlooked.

These are just a few basic considerations, and there are a myriad of details related to each one.  There are many more seemingly harmless concepts to consider before making a major commitment of your valuable time and resources.

Before making such a commitment, enlist the advice of a well-qualified tenant representative to join you in your search for office space and negotiation of the lease – there is compensation paid in every lease transaction;  your broker will share in the compensation that is already part of the negotiation, without cost to you – – – shouldn’t part of that compensation protect you?

Written by Donna Whalen Little, a Tenant Rep Broker with Corporate Realty. Over the last thirty years, both as a landlord’s representative and then as an exclusive tenant representative, Donna has successfully completed several million square feet of lease and sale transactions.  Please call Donna at 504.581.5005 to learn more about how she can you help you.