Most businesses require office space. While a commercial office space agreement constitutes a huge financial commitment for these businesses, most often these leases are signed quickly without thorough review or negotiation.

Here are a list of some issues that should be negotiated before your company signs a commercial office lease:

-Right to renew the lease
-Right to cancel the lease
-Insurance requirements
-Personal guarantees of the lease
-Security deposit
-Option for additional space if needed
-Permitted use of the premises
-Tenant Buildout allowance
-Operating costs to be charged to tenant
-Right to assign the lease to another tenant
-Responsibility for repairs and maintenance

I purposely left “rent” off that list because it seems like rent is the ONLY point that prospective tenants seem to care about when leasing commercial office space. Thus, the entire balance of the list above is typically agreed to without negotiation. Great for the landlord–but terrible for your business.