Negotiating Tips

How to Deal with Retail Tenant's Demand to Exclude Bad Debts from Gross Sales

September 23, 2022    

When negotiating a percentage rent lease, don’t be surprised if a retail tenant demands that you exclude bad debts from the formula for calculating gross sales. This is hardly an unreasonable demand. After all, why should the tenant have to pay percentage rent on customer receivables that...

Limit Holdover Rent Cuts to Short Holdovers

February 20, 2022    

Getting tenants to leave their space when the lease ends can be a difficult and costly proposition. For one thing, you may have to initiate an eviction suit to get the tenant out. And if you’ve already re-rented the space, holdovers expose you to the risk of being sued by the new tenant...

Compromise on Tax Hikes Resulting from Sale of Property Early in Lease

July 21, 2021    

Any time a property is sold there’s the possibility that the sale will trigger a tax assessment. And that creates the risk of a major real estate tax increase. Who pays for that increase when and if it occurs? Obviously, tenants won’t want to. They try to exclude tax increases...

11 Best Practices for Seeking COVID-19 Financial Relief from Your Lender

October 21, 2020    

It’s become abundantly clear that to overcome the economic dislocation caused by COVID-19, landlords must be able to work not only with their tenants but also their lenders. For one thing, you probably can’t offer tenants rent concessions and other relief without your lenders’...

10 Key Leasing Lessons from the First Phase of the COVID Crisis

June 17, 2020    

The COVID-19 crisis has forced landlords and tenants around the country to rework their leases. And while the process will continue for months and even years, we’ve reached the point where we can step back and consider the big-picture leasing lessons from the tumultuous months of March,...

Leverage Guarantor's Personal Liability to Get Tenants to Pay Rent Arrears

May 19, 2020    

The months of April and May were a nightmare for rent collections. Things may not improve dramatically in June, July, or August. And with evictions temporarily barred in so many jurisdictions, landlords may feel they have no choice but to put up with tenant defaults and negotiate the best...

Count Installment Payments in Gross Sales as Early as Possible to Maximize Percentage Rent

June 24, 2019    

You’re negotiating a lease with a retail tenant that sells some goods on an installment basis in which customers make a series of payments over a period of time. How do you calculate these sales for purposes of calculating percentage rent? The tenant wants installment sales to count as...

Negotiate Use of One Experienced Arbitrator for Extension Option Disputes

January 17, 2019    

“Alternative dispute resolution” (ADR) methods, including arbitration, are often used by commercial real estate owners to resolve differences with tenants out of court. Arbitration is a great solution for parties who are in disagreement about a single, clear-cut issue. Common, but...

Carve Out Owner-Favorable Flexibility When Negotiating Visibility Protection

April 30, 2018    

Because visibility of its show windows and storefront signage is always a concern for retail tenants, a discussion about visibility will inevitably come up in negotiations for a lease for space at your center. Savvy tenants will demand that you agree in the lease not to block this visibility....

Limit Tenant's Hours Cotenancy Clause Remedies

November 22, 2017    

An hours cotenancy clause—which says that a tenant will be required to open during the center’s normal hours of operation only if a certain percentage of other tenants are also open—is a typical provision in retail leases. But like many other lease issues that seem ordinary at...

Negotiate Mutually Beneficial Confidentiality Promise

October 18, 2017    

Audits can help you uncover any discrepancies in what you’re collecting in percentage or other types of additional rent, so it might seem as if they’re always positive. But conducting an audit in a way that harms a tenant can leave you open to claims. It’s not unusual for a...

Tailor Lease for Unique Space

September 21, 2017    

If you own an unusual building—one with “character,” a unique layout, or historic elements—you’ll need to find tenants that appreciate quirks. These types of properties can be wildly successful, but you’ll need to take into account marketing and leasing issues...