Feature

Draft Favorable Work Letter Terms Before Construction Begins

August 30, 2018    
Many tenants need to customize the space they lease, whether it’s in an office building or shopping center. But altering space—even for simple improvements—can be complicated. So when signing leases, you’ll want to have a work letter agreement—a contract that...
Related Tools: Spell Out Work Letter Terms for Renovation
Drafting Tips

Draft Narrow Termination Provision to Keep Tenant from Exiting Deal

August 30, 2018    
If you own office building or retail space you’re probably very reluctant to give a termination right to your tenants in their leases. You run the risk of losing a large amount of money; allowing a tenant to get out of its lease early can render costly improvements and other expensive items...
Q & A

Understanding Pros and Cons of ‘Additional Named Insured’ Status

August 30, 2018    
Q: The standard lease form that my attorney and I have used for the last several years requires a tenant to add me to its commercial general liability (CGL) policy as an “additional named insured.” But recently I have spoken with other shopping center owners about this who have said...
Dos & Don'ts

Check Conflicts of Interest Before Offering Deal Details

August 30, 2018    
Before retaining a real estate attorney for a new deal, don’t spend time and money disclosing the deal’s details to her before you are sure that no conflict of interest exists that could prevent her from fairly representing your interests. This applies whether the attorney is new to you...
Dos & Don'ts

Don't Include Stairs in Tenant's Square Footage

August 30, 2018    
If your commercial property has more than one level, it will have at least one set of stairs. You may be wondering if you could include the stairs leading to, say, the dance studio in the square footage, and whether it’s customary, or even legal, to include stairs leading to a second-story...
In the News

Lawsuit Will Determine Whether CRE Firm May Dictate Use of Union Contractors

August 30, 2018    
A new lawsuit raises the question of whether an office building tenant should get to choose whether to use union contractors for its space, or whether the decision should be left up to the building’s manager. The federal lawsuit filed against real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle by a Chicago...
Feature

Negotiate 12 Key Points in Security Deposit Clause

August 15, 2018    
Although leases provide remedies for many types of breaches, it can be hard to collect money later from an erstwhile tenant. Two major financial issues for owners are lease defaults and damage to space. If you’ve dealt with one or both of these potentially very expensive issues in the past,...
Related Tools: Spell Out How Tenant's Security Deposit Will Be Handled
Dos & Don'ts

Capture Gross Sales from All Tenants That Fill Specific Space

August 15, 2018    
Gross sales clauses can be very lucrative for owners because they aren’t limited to collecting just base rent—the percentage of sales a tenant must hand over could potentially be more than its actual rent. But a problem crops up for you when other tenants use the named tenant’s...
Dos & Don'ts

Don't Let Tenant Use Space for Non-Sales Purposes

August 15, 2018    
So much retail business is done online that it’s common for tenants that are pulling in profits that way to use their brick-and-mortar spaces for purposes related to the business, but not to actually sell products. For example, a tenant with a successful website might turn its store into a...
Dos & Don'ts

Collect Sales Owed from Retail Kiosks

August 15, 2018    
If you grant a license to kiosks and carts to conduct business at your center, make sure that you audit the books and records of a set percentage of those kiosks and carts each year to verify their gross sales. It’s not uncommon for kiosks and carts to submit gross sales statements that...
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