In every offer to lease there should be a clause stating that the offer is conditional upon the review, negotiation, and approval of the landlord’s standard form of lease document.
There is a reason for this.
An offer to lease covers the basic terms of your agreement with a landlord and these terms will be incorporated into the lease document. However, a commercial lease can be more than a hundred pages long; it is written by the landlord and heavily weighted in the landlords favor.
There are dozens of clauses in every lease that will not be a part of the offer to lease, but can seriously impact your tenancy, financial and otherwise.
It is critical that every tenant review the lease document with their broker and a lawyer and have a good understanding of the intent and interpretation of all of the clauses. As a tenant, you need be comfortable with the final form of the lease document and ensure that it lines up lines up with your long term business plans.
