In a changing real estate market, especially one with rising commercial property values and rental rates, whether you have a renewal option in your commercial lease and the terms of any such option can be critical. It is highly preferable to have an option provision that specifies the rate of any renewal, e.g. some set percentage over the last year of the initial term. It is not uncommon for a lease to say the renewal will be at “market rate” or something similar, then it will be subject to negotiation and agreement between the Tenant and Landlord, leaving the renewal subject to negotiation and agreement between the Tenant and Landlord. Of course, when this is the case, it largely turns the renewal “option” into simply an exclusive right to negotiate and takes significant control away from the tenant.
If your lease has a market rate or negotiable option provision, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
- First, see if there is any provision in your lease that requires the landlord to give you notice of its proposed renewal terms in advance of the date by which you have to give notice of your intention to renew. If there isn’t any such requirement, still go ahead and request that the landlord let you know as much in advance as possible what renewal rate it will be requesting. That will give you a little more time to negotiate with the landlord, or will give you a heads up that the landlord may be looking for much more than you are willing to spend. If you will need to move at the end of your lease, having that bit of extra time may be invaluable.
- Second, understand that you really have two deadlines: the actual end of the lease, and the date after which it will be impossible for you to find new space and have it ready to move into if you can’t work out a deal with the landlord on your renewal. Is that 6 months before the end of the lease? 9 months? More? You need to have a good sense of this, because if you let that deadline pass, you may be stuck taking whatever deal the landlord is offering because you don’t have anyplace else to go. With restaurant leases this timing factor is critically important because the permitting and buildout requirements of new restaurant space will require much more lead time before any move.
- Finally, pay close attention to your lease’s holdover provisions. Almost all commercial leases I see in my practice contain drastic rent increase provisions if you stay in the space beyond the end of your lease, with it being common for rent for any holdover period to be 200% the last year of the initial term. If that is the case in your lease, you must make sure, if you cannot negotiate the renewal term, that you are ready to move when the initial term of the lease is up.
Of course, many of these terms are subject to negotiation at the time you sign your lease and that is the best time to address them. But if you must deal with them later, you should work with your real estate lawyer to ensure you are able to renew your lease on favorable terms or, failing that, have as much time as possible to find a new space.