Running a successful business depends on successful navigation of a number of issues, and one of them is commercial leasing. For any business, and especially for businesses that are just starting up, negotiating commercial leasing can be daunting. In any commercial lease negotiation, it is critical to work with an experienced attorney to ensure one has advice and advocacy throughout the process.
The exact process involved in lease negotiation varies depending on a number of factors. It often is not the case that landlords and tenants have equal bargaining power. An experienced attorney can help ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible and that a tenant is not unfairly disadvantaged.
An attorney can, for instance, help ensure that a tenant doesn’t get tied to a particular broker or property before this is intended, that the issues relevant to the tenant are given due emphasis and clarity in the initial inquiry, that the tenant does not become bound to certain terms before intended, and that there is clear communication between the parties.
Drafting and negotiation are certainly an important phase of the lease negotiation process. Very often the landlord prepares the lease before even entering into the negotiation process, and this tends to give landlords an advantage. Even if some terms are negotiable, many landlords habitually use a process that is less geared to negotiation than it is to acceptance of standard terms.
In drafting and negotiating the lease, an experienced attorney can help ensure that the terms of the lease are not biased in favor of the landlord, that the tenant’s interests are represented, and that the lease is sufficiently detailed to ensure mutual understanding between the landlord and tenant.
Source: Albuquerque Journal, “Negotiating a commercial lease,” Nick Chavez, Jan. 18, 2017.
