Why I Read Every Word of the Lease

Leases are not a good read. They are long, often 60+ pages, and filled with sentences you have to read three times to fully understand. It is no surprise that many brokers pass the document straight to the attorney without comment. “I’m not a lawyer, I can’t give legal advice.” Fair enough.

But that misses something important.

While a lease contains legal concepts that absolutely require a strong attorney, its core purpose is to document the business deal. The terms negotiated in the letter of intent are not legal abstractions. They are business decisions. And ensuring those terms are carried through accurately is the broker’s responsibility.

No one is better positioned to do that.

Does it matter? It does. I routinely see lease language that subtly, and sometimes materially, erodes a tenant’s position.

I came across a good example this week.

My client is leasing second-generation space, previously built and largely usable as-is. The landlord is providing a tenant improvement allowance, but like most tenants in this situation, my client is not spending evenly across the entire premises. In their case, the bulk of the investment will be focused at the entrance of the space.

Spending tenant improvement funds on isolated areas of a second-generation space is common.

What was not normal is the language I found buried in Work Letter of the draft lease.   Here, I found a provision requiring the tenant improvement allowance to be spent evenly across the entire space. If the tenant concentrated improvements in only half the premises, for example, the landlord could reduce its contribution proportionally.

Same allowance. Very different outcome.

That kind of language rarely shows up in a letter of intent. It appears later, in the lease, where it is easy to miss if no one is looking for it.

This is why I read every word.