Avoid Sharing Pay Phone Revenue with Tenant

Pay telephones can be a good source of additional revenue. Despite the popularity of cell phones, many people still rely on pay phones because they don't have a cell phone or it isn't working properly. But your lease may not give you the unfettered right to install pay phones on the exterior walls of a tenant's space, without getting the tenant's permission first. And the tenant may withhold permission unless you agree to share the revenue generated by the pay phones.

To avoid this situation, make sure that the lease defines your building's “common areas” to include the outside of the exterior walls of the tenant's space. Also, make sure the lease states that you have the right to “install, erect, attach, hang, mount, operate, repair, replace, service, and maintain” one or more pay phones on the outside of the exterior walls of the tenant's space. Finally, state in the lease that the tenant won't have any right to the revenue or commissions generated by any pay phones that you install on the outside of the exterior walls of its space. This should apply to revenue and commissions from pay phones that are already installed there, as well as pay phones that you install there in the future.