Commercial Lease Review & Negotiation
A commercial lease allocates a decade of risk in forty pages, and it is drafted by the side that isn’t you — unless it is. The firm drafts and negotiates commercial leases, amendments, renewals, assignments, and subleases for both landlords and tenants, which means each client gets counsel who knows the other side’s playbook. The substance is where leases are won: tenant improvement allowances, rent concessions and abatement, casualty and restoration provisions, repair obligations, assignment rights, and the personal guaranty everyone signs faster than they should.
For operating businesses, the lease is often the company’s largest fixed obligation and its least flexible contract. The firm negotiates leases for single-location and multi-location operators — restaurant, hospitality, retail, recreation, franchise, office, medical, and service businesses — with review that extends beyond rent to buildout, permits, use, exclusivity, assignment, guaranties, insurance, casualty, restoration, default, renewal, relocation, signage, and exit rights.
Services
SIX ITEMS- Lease drafting and negotiation — office, retail, industrial, medical
- Lease review with a plain-language risk memo
- Amendments, renewals, extensions, assignments, and subleases
- TI allowance, rent concession, and abatement structuring
- Casualty, restoration, and repair-obligation provisions
- Guaranty negotiation and limitation
Representative Experience
THREE MATTERSDrafted and negotiated commercial leases, renewals, assignments, and subleases on behalf of both landlords and tenants.
Advised on tenant improvement allowances, rent concessions, casualty and restoration provisions, and landlord repair obligations.
Litigated commercial lease disputes (see Commercial Real Estate Disputes) — experience that determines what these documents must say.
Representative matters. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Process
FOUR STEPSBusiness terms check
What was promised in the LOI versus what the draft actually says.
Risk memo
The provisions that matter, in order, with recommended positions.
Negotiation
Redlines with explained reasoning, prioritized so goodwill is spent where it counts.
Execution
Final lease, guaranty, and a summary of obligations and dates you’ll actually use.
FAQs
THREE QUESTIONSThe landlord says the lease is “standard.” Is it?
It is standard for the landlord. Every commercial lease is negotiable in proportion to your leverage — and knowing which provisions to spend leverage on is the service.
What’s the most-missed provision?
Casualty and restoration — who rebuilds, on whose timeline, and whether rent abates meanwhile. Tenants discover it during the flood, which is late.
Do you review a lease on a flat scope?
Yes. A scoped review with a written risk memo is the firm’s most common entry engagement for tenants.