More 'Ins and Outs' with a Commercial Lease

There are a certainly many things that a business owner will have on their mind when it comes to starting or expanding their business. Often, that doesn't take into consideration a situation where the owner may want to get out of their lease earlier than anticipated. 

Here's an important tip related to that and a few other things you'll want to consider when going into a Commercial Lease. 

Thank you Dale and Jeff, our friends at The Lease Coach, for sharing these insights with our audience. 

Dale Willerton and Jeff Grandfield

Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals For Dummies

Commercial Leasing Tips for Commercial Tenants

By: Jeff Grandfield – The Lease Coach 

For many business-owners, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While an entrepreneur focuses on marketing and managing, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals For Dummies (co-written with my colleague, Dale Willerton), tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. 

Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for an entrepreneur as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the business’ financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your business, these are some money-saving tips for tenants:

Termination Clauses and Outs: A good lease agreement from the tenant’s perspective includes an early Termination Clause. Such a clause can be based on the landlord maintaining occupancy levels especially if you rely on traffic. Some business owners like to have the right to terminate in the event of personal illness or even poor sales volume. Landlords may not willingly include these clauses for the benefit of the tenant – they must be negotiated into the agreement.

Don’t Forget the Parking: When negotiating for parking, first establish the availability and preferred locations. It’s much harder to negotiate for parking spots after they have been all taken rather than when there is a surplus of spots. If you can’t get a landlord to come down on the asking rental rate, at least ask for a few months of free parking as a lease incentive. Parking is worth negotiating on – so that you, your staff, and your customers have a place to park.

Measure Your Space: Most commercial, office, retail, and industrial tenants lease space and pay rent per square foot. So often, however, the premises or area has not been measured properly and the tenant is paying for Phantom Space (or additional space reported that does not exist). Measurement discrepancies are common so make sure that you have your square footage verified. Your measured area not only affects your base/minimum rent, but also your CAM costs.

For a copy of our free CD, Leasing Do’s & Don’ts for Commercial Tenants, please e-mail your request to DaleWillerton@TheLeaseCoach.com.

Jeff Grandfield and Dale Willerton - The Lease Coach are Commercial Lease Consultants who work exclusively for tenants. Jeff and Dale are professional speakers and co-authors of Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals For Dummies (Wiley, 2013). Got a leasing question? Need help with your new lease or renewal? Call 1-800-738-9202, e-mail DaleWillerton@TheLeaseCoach.com  or JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com or visit www.TheLeaseCoach.com.

* Lately, we've been speaking with a number of business owners who've been taking a closer look at how their business location needs fit into the bigger picture of their business, and into their Business PLAN.

NOTE: For a closer look at the services provided by Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. and how we can assist ... visit our Website: www.pvs4u.ca

Care to add your comments or additional helpful suggestions for entrepreneurs? 
 
Let us know your thoughts and please share this with those in your circle of contacts!