When your lease term is coming to an end, you face a decision that will shape your living situation for the next year or more. A lease renewal is your chance to stay in a home you like while improving the terms of your agreement. Many renters simply sign whatever renewal offer arrives in the … Read more

A month to month lease agreement is a rental contract that renews automatically at the end of each rental period, usually every 30 days. It gives both landlords and tenants unusual freedom, because either party can end the arrangement with proper written notice instead of waiting for a full year to expire. For renters facing … Read more

A triple net lease, often written as NNN, is one of the most common structures in commercial real estate. It shifts most of the property operating costs from the landlord to the tenant. That simple idea has major consequences for rent, risk, and responsibility, so both sides need to understand exactly who pays what before … Read more

You formed an LLC or corporation to protect your personal assets. Then your landlord slides a commercial lease across the table, and buried in the back is a personal guarantee. One signature, and the liability shield you built for your business develops a very large hole. Personal guarantees are standard in commercial leasing. Landlords ask … Read more

When you lease commercial space, the raw square footage is only the beginning. An empty shell needs walls, flooring, lighting, and plumbing before your business can open its doors. That build-out costs real money, and who pays for it is one of the most important negotiations in any commercial lease. The answer is often the … Read more

Imagine you are buying a commercial building. The seller tells you the tenants pay a combined $25,000 a month and that all leases run for five more years. Do you take the seller’s word for it? In commercial real estate, serious buyers and lenders do not. They ask for an estoppel certificate from every tenant. … Read more

Signing a commercial lease is one of the biggest financial decisions a business owner will make. The rent, the term, and the fine print will shape your costs and flexibility for years. Yet many tenants sign the landlord’s standard form with barely a second thought, leaving serious money and leverage on the table. Here is … Read more

Walk through any shopping mall and you are surrounded by percentage leases. That clothing store, the coffee kiosk, the shoe retailer: most of them pay their landlord a base rent plus a slice of their sales. It is one of the most distinctive lease structures in commercial real estate, and if you are considering retail … Read more

When you sign a multi-year commercial lease, the starting rent is only your first-year rent. Nearly every commercial lease includes an escalation clause: a provision that increases what you pay over time. These clauses are routine, but the way they are written can change your total cost by tens of thousands of dollars across a … Read more