Real Estate &
Commercial Leasing

Review the LOI. Once economic terms are in an LOI, they are the reference point for the full lease negotiation, and any attempt to move them later shifts meaningful leverage to the landlord. Key terms to negotiate at the LOI stage include base rent and escalations, free-rent periods, tenant-improvement allowance amount and form, personal guarantee structure, assignment rights, exclusivity, and exit provisions. The cost of LOI review is trivial relative to the value of getting the right starting point.

Yes. Full term personal guarantees are the landlord's opening position but are often negotiable. Good-guy guarantees — limiting personal liability to the period the tenant actually occupies the space and surrenders it in specified condition — are a common alternative and materially better for the tenant. Burn-down guarantees that reduce over time are another workable structure. Accepting a full guarantee on a ten-year lease without pushback is one of the most consequential mistakes first-time commercial tenants make.

Related: Hospitality & Restaurant

Restaurant and hospitality leases require terms beyond the standard commercial checklist. Exhaust, grease-trap, and ventilation rights are foundational. Signage provisions for storefront visibility, exclusive-use clauses protecting the restaurant's concept from competing tenants in the same property, operating-hour requirements, and liquor-license cooperation clauses all belong in the lease. The tenant-improvement allowance should reflect current restaurant build-out costs, which have risen sharply post-2021, not a generic office-tenant number.

Related: Liquor Licensing · Food & Beverage

The assignment and subletting provisions often determine whether the lease is an asset or a liability if the business changes. "Landlord consent not to be unreasonably withheld" is the floor, but permitted transfers to affiliates, successors in merger, and buyers of substantially all assets should be carved out of the consent requirement entirely. Recapture rights — allowing the landlord to take the space back on a proposed sublet — should be narrowed or eliminated. A lease you cannot assign is a lease you cannot exit.

Most commercial leases allow the tenant to audit the landlord's CAM calculations, though audit rights vary widely in scope and timing. Typical audits find inclusion of expenses that exceed the lease's CAM definition — capital costs improperly passed through as operating expenses, charges for other tenants' improvements, administrative fees above market. Negotiating strong audit rights at lease signing and exercising them periodically keeps CAM charges honest. If a disputed overcharge is material, counsel can pursue the claim.

Related: Dispute Resolution

Title and survey review, environmental site assessment (Phase I, and Phase II if conditions warrant), zoning and land-use verification, review of existing leases and tenant estoppels, service-contract review, and property-condition inspection are the baseline. For income-producing properties, the rent roll, operating statements, and expense history drive the economic analysis. We manage the full diligence workflow and the contingency timelines in the purchase agreement so that closing happens with eyes open.