Florida Landlords: Terms That Your Commercial Lease Should Have
There are many different ways for a dispute to arise over a commercial lease. While it is impossible to completely eliminate the risk of a dispute, it is possible to drastically reduce your risk. You can protect yourself by ensuring that your commercial lease agreement is well drafted. An attorney can help you draft a commercial lease that protects you and complies with Florida law. If you are a landlord in a dispute over a commercial lease, or you have any questions about commercial lease drafting, please contact our experienced West Palm Beach landlord-tenant dispute attorneys for immediate legal assistance.
Four Conditions You Should Include in Your Commercial Lease
- Use restrictions: This type of clause limits how your tenant can use your property. For example, you may be leasing multiple commercial units on one property. In this situation, it might be important for you to restrict what type of business activity a new tenant can engage in. This can keep your new tenant from directly competing with an already existing tenant. You could choose to do this because the competition would threaten your business relationship with the other tenant. Similarly, you may want to keep certain businesses out of your space entirely, as they might hurt the value of your surrounding properties. You can craft a use restriction that is quite broad or very narrowly tailored. Ultimately, it is your choice.
- Expense allocations: It can be expensive to run and maintain commercial property. You need to make sure that your expense obligations are clear in your commercial lease. This includes routine, and easily foreseeable expenses such as water and electricity, and also rare expenses like certain repairs. By making it clear as to exactly who pays for what, you will greatly reduce your risk of a dispute. You do not want to get unfairly stuck with the bill.
- Indemnification: This is one of the most important clauses you can have in any commercial lease agreement. An indemnification clause can protect you from legal liability. As a landlord, you need to make sure that you will not be held legally responsible for your tenants’, or their customers’, injuries.
- Remedies: When a tenant breaches a commercial lease, the landlord is almost always damaged financially. You need to be able to hold them liable for their conduct. Your lease should include a clause that lays out specific remedies. For example, what happens if your tenant misses a payment? That costs you, and there should be should be fair compensation. Further, in case of a breach, your commercial lease agreement should establish what happens with attorneys’ fees if a legal dispute arises.
Contact An Experienced West Palm Beach Landlord-Tenant Attorney
A well prepared commercial lease provides critical protections for Florida landlords. At Pike & Lustig, LLP, we have extensive experience finding cost effective solutions for our clients. If you are a landlord with questions about commercial leases, or you are currently involved in a dispute with a tenant, please contact our office today to schedule a free legal consultation. We serve landlords throughout South Florida, including in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties.
