Feature Articles

Negotiate Protections to Minimize Guarantor’s Liability for Lease

January 29, 2019

Using a guarantor to secure your lease obligations—if you aren’t as financially strong or experienced as the owner for the space you want to lease would like—can be the difference between doing business in a desirable location or having to set up shop elsewhere. But while the...

Negotiating Right to Challenge Operating Expense Determination

January 29, 2019

Q: I’m in negotiations with the owner of retail space I’ll be leasing. The operating expense provision is being heavily negotiated, mainly regarding specific items that I’ll be required to pay and those that will fall on the...

Delay Impact of Surprise Expenses

January 29, 2019

Even if you do your best to plan expenses for your business when it comes to the space you rent, a new operating expense or a significant increase in a current operating expense might arise after you sign a lease, or after the base year, if you sign a base year lease. It could be an increase...

Perform Due Diligence to Avoid Additional Rent Surprise

December 18, 2018

Making a profit from running your business at a mall or shopping center is the ultimate goal, and to further that, you might be lured by reasonable, or even low, base rent. But an affordable base rent figure is only as good as the total when you add incidental costs—which can be so high...

Dispensary Tenants Can Have High Hopes for CRE Representation

December 18, 2018

There’s good news for the growing number of marijuana dispensary tenants: A new survey of commercial real estate brokers who have done lease deals for space for these businesses reveals that—despite the difficulty of negotiating such leases—they would try again. So tenants won...

Negotiate Four Limits and Conditions in Owner's Recapture Clause

November 21, 2018

Getting the right to “go dark”—that is, stop operating while continuing to pay rent—if your business isn’t generating enough revenue, is very valuable. That’s because going dark can save you the cost of stocking and staffing the space you rent, among other...

Missing Deadline to Exercise Option Due to Employee's Error

November 21, 2018

Q: The lease I negotiated with the owner of the space I rent has an option to purchase, so that I can buy the property after a certain number of years as a tenant. The notice requirements for exercising the options are very clear; however, as...

Luxury Tenants Switch Tacks for Location, Lease Rights

November 21, 2018

Luxury retailers, who traditionally have been less affected by market troubles, are now finding themselves with the conundrum of finding their niche within their niche. Changing consumer attitudes and rents outpacing sales are prompting these tenants to rethink how they brand themselves—to...

New Mall Leasing Model Gives eCommerce Retailers a Chance

November 21, 2018

Retail brands that have done business exclusively online are getting the benefit of a low-risk entry into the brick-and-mortar world. Malls are providing these “digital native brands” with the opportunity to rent space without the typical lengthy commitment—offering what’...

Retail Experts Clash with Small Business Proponents Over NYC Law

November 21, 2018

The New York City Council is debating a bill it says could help storefront vacancy by giving small businesses a leg up on the competition. It held a hearing on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, a bill that proponents say could help small businesses negotiate more equitable lease terms—...

Carve Out Rights in Comprehensive Memorandum of Lease

October 31, 2018

If the owner of the shopping center or office building where you lease space has financial difficulties, it may be dealing with one, or even several, liens filed against the property. If you don’t have priority if the owner becomes bankrupt, you could be dramatically affected, up to and...

Negotiate Four Key Management Fee Pass-Through Issues

October 31, 2018

Management costs for a commercial real estate property can be onerous for landlords. So your office building or retail space’s landlord, like many others, could try to collect its management costs by charging a management fee—that is, a fee that reimburses the owner for the costs it...