Before signing any commercial lease agreement, you want to understand the terms of the contract inside out and upside down, lest the opportunity turns into a quagmire. You also want to partner with a skilled commercial law attorney who can negotiate favorable terms on your behalf. Expert counsel plus due diligence on everyone’s part makes for a much stronger leasing opportunity.

For retail lease agreements in Miami, there’s a lot to pay attention to. Here are a few of the many provisions to understand.

  • Type of lease agreement – Net leases are among the most common lease agreements tenants in South Florida encounter. In net lease agreements, some, or all, of the landlord’s expenses are transferred to the tenant. Net leases are further broken down into three general categories: single net lease (N), double net lease (NN) and triple net (NNN) lease agreements. You can learn more about them and how to negotiate NNN lease renewals in Florida here. When leasing a retail space, it’s imperative to know which repair and maintenance costs you’ll be responsible for.
  • Exclusivity clause – This can be particularly important for retail locations but also may affect other industries. A tenant should consider negotiating exclusivity – that means restricting a landlord’s right to lease nearby spaces to businesses similar to yours.
  • Termination clause – Understand timelines and methods for communicating your intention to renew or terminate your lease agreement. Along the same vein, you should also review the expectations of the surrender clause. Some landlords require the retail space to be returned to them in the same condition it was provided. 
  • Entire agreement clause – Common in many types of contracts, the entire agreement clause’s purpose is to reiterate that the contract includes everything spelled out in the whole agreement (hence, the “entire” in its name). Only the terms and conditions included in this specific contract will apply – not any prior agreements or conversations had between parties. So, i you have a one-off chat with your landlord, don’t expect it to hold up in court.

For more about what to watch out for when signing a commercial lease as a retail tenant in Florida, be sure to check out this post. Before signing a commercial lease agreement, give us a call at the Law Offices of Alex D. Sirulnik, P.A. We will help you negotiate a strong and favorable lease agreement for your Florida retail business.