FISCHBACH TENANT REPRESENTATION

Five Items to Include in Your Lease to help You Get Out of It

Leases are made to be binding. To get out of one requires planning and forethought. Here are some items you can add to your lease that might make you very happy one day.

1. Make an upfront arrangement with your landlord that you will repay the unamortized portion of any improvements that she may have made to the property on your behalf. The amortization^? schedule must be plainly defined by the lease. This arrangement may also require a few months rent to give the landlord income while she seeks another tenant. Getting out of a lease this way is going to cost you some money, but you will know how much and can weigh your options. And it should get you out for a lot less than paying off the balance or the lease.

2. This item should be a no-brainer. Take more or different space with the same landlord and you are free of the current lease. Spell out the circumstances in the lease.

3. Say your business grows faster than expected and you become desperate for more space. Smart leases specify that if the landlord cannot provide the space, you may leave.

4. If certain competitors move into the property, some leases give you the option to break the lease. This is a fairly common arrangement between attorneys and landlords.

5. The title of the building changes. If your business is AAA Stocks and Bonds and the building is renamed, "Goldman Sachs Towers," you might want to move. Have a clause in your lease that allows you to do it.

These stipulations may seem simple, but can be the source of great joy to forward thinking tenants. Alas, the opposite is usually the case.