Six Point Checklist for Negotiating an Office Lease Termination Option

TheBrokerList recently published a blog post by Troy Golden, and I thought it was an interesting post. People don’t usually like to think about their business not working out, and needing to terminate their office space lease. There are plenty of reasons why someone might need to terminate their office lease. It could be for personal reasons, or because they got an irresistible deal they couldn’t turn down for something, or their business simply isn’t performing as well as they had thought it would, or some other reasons. Regardless of why you, or someone else, may need to terminate an office lease, it’s important to be prepared in advance, just in case a termination becomes necessary. In his blog post, Troy provides a checklist for “negotiating an office lease termination.” If you enjoy this blog post excerpt, I encourage you to read the full article on his website.

No one likes to think of negative outcomes for their business, but the fact is they happen. So why not reduce your possible costs ahead of time by using this checklist for negotiating an office lease termination option.

Point(s) of termination

Are you comfortable with a one-time termination date or would you prefer to have multiple points that can be exercised at different times?

Prior notice

How much time prior to lease termination do you have to give the landlord?  When negotiating think in terms of how fast would you need to get out if the worst case scenario happened.

Lease termination fees

You probably won’t be able to negotiate an office lease termination option without fees, so the goal should be minimizing them as much as possible. Also, be sure to look up the state laws about termination fees so you are not locked into ones you normally wouldn’t be required to pay.  Try negotiating for credits for things such as improvements to the facility and at what rate those improvements will be rated.  When will the fees be due? Upon the termination date or after assessing the property?

Discount after office lease termination

If receiving a discount for a certain length of lease, be sure to negotiate how that discount will….