A commercial lease is often the largest financial commitment a small business makes, yet many owners sign the landlord’s form after skimming it for the rent and the move-in date. That form was written to protect the landlord, and commercial tenants receive few of the protections residential tenants take for granted. I recently reviewed a shopping-center lease for a husband-and-wife team starting their own business. On its face it was a standard five-year deal. Read closely, it committed them to more than a third of a million dollars in rent and charges, all backed by unlimited personal guaranties that put their home and savings on the line. A single default, even one later cured, would extend that personal liability for the life of the lease. The anchor store’s use restrictions, buried in a hard-to-read exhibit, could have barred several services the business was built around, and breaking them was an immediate default with no chance to fix it. A relocation clause let the landlord move the store on 30 days’ notice, potentially disrupting a customer base the owners had worked hard to build.
None of these terms were unusual, and none were impossible to address. The problem is timing: your leverage to change a lease exists only before you sign it. An attorney’s review does more than flag risks. It sorts the provisions that could end your business from the ones you can live with, so you spend your negotiating capital where it matters. It also gives your lender or SBA loan officer the chance to confirm the lease meets their requirements before a lien or consent clause derails your financing. The cost of a review is small compared to five years of obligations you can’t undo.
If you’re about to sign a commercial lease, schedule a review before you do. For a $100 consultation fee, I will conduct a preliminary review of your lease to spot the major issues, then meet with you for a 30-minute confidential consultation by phone, video, or in person. If you’d like a complete review, we can discuss that during the consultation, and the $100 is credited toward your legal fees if you retain me. Schedule your consultation.