Join Amy as she shares her expertise on what you should be thinking about when you are considering leasing commercial space. Whether you’re a startup, expanding your business or you are the one looking to rent out some extra space, you’ll find value in this video.
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Amy Roepke:
Hi again. Thanks for tuning in. I am thinking about a topic I’d like to bring to you today. And that topic is commercial leasing.
Have you ever thought about renting out a portion of the suite that you’re occupying? If you’re leasing it, that would be a sublease. Have you thought about doing that? If you own the building, that might be just a regular commercial lease, in which case, it’s a way to bring in some additional money and optimize the use of your space.
So here are just a couple of things to know, if you’re thinking about a commercial lease. And from other perspective, if you are a prospective tenant, thinking about looking for commercial space, this will help you as well.
So the first thing to know is make sure that you are looking at comparable prices and comparable buildings or comparable spaces in your area, so that you can make sure that you’re getting the best deal possible.
Now you could work with a commercial real estate broker who will help you understand all the ins and outs of your area and what might be available and what might be coming on the market. It’s a great thing to do. If you don’t have a commercial broker, please let me know I can connect you with somebody that I know in my network.
I’ve got some fantastic brokers in my network who are willing to help. And really, we’ll roll up their sleeves and help you find that space that works best for you. So the second thing to know is, once you’ve decided or negotiated price is make sure that you understand the nuances of the space that you’ve decided to rent.
So whether you’re the landlord renting it out, or the tenant going to prospectively rent, know what the utilities are, that will be included in the lease, for example, know what is quirky about the space? So take a look at the space.
Are there areas where the lighting might need to be upgraded? Or does the place need to be painted. If you’re a tenant, you can certainly make these requests of the landlord, if you’re the landlord, think about putting your best foot forward for your prospective tenant.
And then the third thing that you would want to be thinking about is what does that leasing contract look like? And who’s responsible for what so just like I mentioned utilities a second ago, who’s responsible for things like snow removal, that’s not a utility, but it’s something that needs to happen if you live in a place that gets snowy.
Or what happens if there’s a water leak, and who’s responsible for fixing that, who will reroute the building? Typically, that’s the landlord. But you’d be surprised some commercial leases require that tenants do that. And I’ll tell you that from either landlord or tenant perspective, a lot of times a landlord will present a lease to a tenant, and a tenant will not negotiate any terms of that lease, they’ll just go ahead and sign it.
And then something will go wrong. And neither party is willing to work with the other to make a wreck. And that’s usually when I meet the client and the client, either the landlord or the tenant gives me the lease and I take a look at the lease. And I say, well, there’s room to argue that you’re responsible. And there’s room to argue that you’re not responsible.
So before you enter into a contract, my third and most important tip is make sure that you are working with an attorney who can remove all that ambiguity, remove all the uncertainty, as much as possible from the lease.
And you know, our job is to try to just imagine what might happen catastrophically or even just minor things that might happen that can add up over time and put those terms into the lease so that everybody understands who’s expected to do what.
Because that’s really what a contract does. It governs a relationship. And it helps the people or the entities involved in that relationship to understand who’s going to do what, and when and how. That’s it. So yeah, that’s all I got for you.
If you have questions, please drop us a line or you can certainly don’t put any confidential information but you can certainly type your questions down below the video, wherever this is posted, and we’ll be happy to to get back to you and help you however we can. All right, thanks so much.
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