Virginia Commercial Lease Attorneys
We review leases within 48-72 hours
Should An Attorney Review Your Commercial Lease?
Absolutely. The business and legal terms of a commercial lease can vary drastically from landlord to landlord and from tenant to tenant. As a general rule, legal documents tend to favor the drafting party. This is particularly true in the context of a commercial lease. A majority of commercial leases favor one side – and it’s not the tenant.
Consulting with a lawyer experienced in reviewing commercial leases before signing a lease is a wise investment in your business. Commercial leases typically come with a long initial term, often 5 or 10 years. A lot can change in this time period.
No lawyer can guaranty success in negotiations. However, an experienced attorney can spot key issues, recommend changes, and empower their client to make informed decisions. Even minor changes can help you mitigate risk and we are committed to helping you succeed.
Once we understand your risk tolerance, goals, and objectives, we can review and revise the landlord’s commercial lease. We will take the time to listen, understand, and explain business and legal terms as we join you on this journey. Our goal is to work towards fair lease terms that are acceptable to you. We recognize what is acceptable varies from client to client and we meet our clients where they need us.
Our law firm recognizes and appreciates the adage that time kills deals. We may “hurry up and wait”, but thats okay. We can’t control the other guys turnaround time, but we can control ours. We will review the landlord’s commercial lease and produce a redline with our changes within 48-72 hours of our initial meeting and completion of our formal engagement. Attorney Derek A. Colvin or John Allen Waldrop can assist you today. Click the “Free Consult” button to schedule a consultation, call, or email Derek. We’d love to help you on this journey.
Should you negotiate a Commercial Lease?
Dr. Chester L. Karrass wrote a book entitled: In business as in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Our experience has found this adage to be true.
In fact, commercial landlords expect their prospective tenants to negotiate.
The first step: The Deal From a 10,000 Foot View
The business parties typically negotiate certain business terms prior to the landlord presenting a commercial lease for consideration. This is often accomplished through negotiations directly with the landlord or through broker agents. The business terms are documented in a letter of intent. Its important that the parties agree on the big picture items before expending time and resources to negotiate over the finer details.
The letter of intent will often govern items like: (i) the identities of the contracting parties, (ii) identity of any guarantors, (iii) definition of the space, (iv) conditions of the lease, (v) use of the premises, (vi) the initial term period, (vii) the renewal term period, (viii) the rent amount(s) and type(s), (ix) increases, (x) rent commencement date/conditions, (xi) security deposit, (xii) landlords work, (xiii) landlords financial contribution (tenant improvement allowance), (xiv) tenants work, and (xv) signage, along with other issues relating to the premises, access, maintenance, and other commercial issues negotiated by the business parties.
A majority of our clients are franchisees and franchisors who have already negotiated the business terms of their commercial lease. However, we can also help you negotiate terms. Regardless, we will ensure the negotiated terms are accurately and fully encompassed in the lease during our review. We are focused on listening to our clients and delivering solutions.
What Legal Terms Can Be Negotiable?
The short answer. Most. Of course not all terms are worth negotiating. Strategy and tactic is important.
There is no way to eliminate risk; however, we help our clients by focusing on the high-risk areas found in many commercial leases so they can determine how to best mitigate risk and negotiate a final lease that is right for them. Many of the areas we identify for our clients are overlooked in the early stages of negotiation, but they can have a big impact on increasing the likelihood of success and reducing risk. This means editing, adding, and removing certain provisions to help you establish certain rights and limit certain exposures. We help you plan for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
