Standard Lease Agreement. There's no such thing

In my book, The Ultimate Guide to Commercial Real Estate Leasing, I outline in detail that there is no Standard Lease Agreement. A landlord will hand a tenant a document usually after an offer to lease has been signed by the tenant and tell him or her to sign. Sometimes tenants must do this as they have entered into this initial documentation without the assistance of a competent tenant broker or legal counsel as a result of dealing directly with the landlord or his agent.

However a canny tenant leaves himself room to negotiate the lease after the initial business terms have been agreed to and I go into this into considerable detail in my book. In fact, many of my clients are able to negotiate most of the terms and conditions that are in the actual lease at the offer stage when they have the most leverage.

This of course, makes a lot more sense, than accepting the landlord's Standard Lease Agreement.

Since the actual Lease is so important to a Tenant the utmost care must go into drafting clauses that protect the Tenant within the Offer to Lease so that the Tenant’s lawyer hasmaximum flexibility to negotiate.

It is especially important either when the Lease is not pre-negotiated as part of the offer or the Tenant does not have enough leverage to get key clauses into the Offer to make sure that clauses in the lease are negotiable after the offer to lease. Landlords don't like this, and in some cases Landlords will not even provide a Lease until the Offer isnegotiated. At this stage tenant, needs, an expert in Toronto commercial real estate leasing if the tenant does not want to get into major difficulty.

Some of the biggest problems in commercial leases is in the way they are written. They are extremely difficult to read and often poorly organized so that the tenant has to look at 4 to 5 different places in the lease to understand a single concept.

Listed below, are some common problem areas that tenant should attempt to understand before signing any lease.

Relocation Clause. Watch Out What You Sign

Assignment/Transfer

Option to Renew

Guarantee/Indemnification

Right to Terminate

Term, Occupancy and Double Rent

Code Costs. Who Pays

Landlord Turnkeys

Operating Costs Double Costs

First Right of Refusal

Lease Termination Don’t Lose Your Rights

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