Legal Project Management Plan & Checklist
Purpose of this Guide: Open this plan when your client is a business tenant negotiating a new commercial office lease in the United States. Use this plan when the client has identified suitable office premises and needs legal advice from the Letter of Intent stage through to taking possession of the fitted-out space.
Jurisdiction: United States - commercial real estate. This plan applies to commercial office leases generally across US jurisdictions. Specific state law requirements (such as landlord disclosure obligations and broker commission regulations) may vary by state and should be checked locally. There are no forks in this plan.
The Process at a Glance: The process begins with a thorough review of the commercial deal points in a draft Letter of Intent, including base rent structure (gross, modified gross, or NNN), rent escalation clauses (fixed annual increases or CPI-indexed), Tenant Improvement allowances (TI), free rent periods, and security deposit terms. The LOI is reviewed and negotiated before signature because the landlord will use the LOI deal terms as a baseline when drafting the lease - concessions given at LOI stage are rarely regained in lease negotiations. Once the LOI terms are agreed and executed, the landlord's draft lease is analyzed and redlined, targeting key tenant-protective provisions: SNDA agreements (Subordination, Non-Disturbance, and Attornment) to protect the tenant if the landlord defaults on their mortgage; make-good and restoration obligations at lease expiry; personal guarantee scope and carve-outs; CAM cap protection; subletting and assignment rights; and termination rights. TI allowances and build milestone timelines are negotiated with the landlord, including any rent abatement during the fit-out period and the permitted TI draw-down schedule. Before execution, the tenant's insurer issues Commercial General Liability certificates naming the landlord as additional insured. The lease is executed and the security deposit is funded. On the possession date, a detailed condition report with photographs is prepared to document the premises condition at handover. Post-possession, ADA compliance and occupancy certifications are verified.
Key Legislation and Concepts: Commercial office leases in the US are primarily governed by state property law rather than a single federal statute. Key concepts include: NNN (triple-net) leases - tenant pays base rent plus pro-rata share of property taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance (CAM) charges; Gross leases - tenant pays a fixed rent and the landlord covers operating costs; Modified gross leases (hybrid); SNDA agreements - Subordination, Non-Disturbance, and Attornment agreements protect the tenant if the property is sold or the landlord defaults on their mortgage; TI allowances - landlord contribution to the cost of fitting out the premises, expressed as a dollar amount per rentable square foot; Make-good obligations - tenant must restore premises to a specified condition at lease expiry; Personal guarantee - common requirement for smaller tenants, exposes individual principals to lease obligations; Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 42 U.S.C. ss 12101 et seq. - accessibility obligations affecting fit-out plans; CAM reconciliation - annual reconciliation of actual common area maintenance costs against estimated amounts billed throughout the year.
* Disclaimer: We're nobody's lawyer, because we aren't lawyers. You are, so you know better than to take legal advice from an app. We also aren't accountants or dog trainers - just digital spirit guides taking zero liability for any of this. This site exists to gather the collective knowledge of practitioners like you. Verify everything and submit your feedback on the Commercial Office Space Lease Negotiation matter plan to improve the playbook. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, it's a request for input.
This legal matter plan provides a structured workflow for AREA_REAL_COMMERCIAL cases, outlining the standard PROC_TRANSACTIONAL process. Utilize these tracking templates to manage your legal cases efficiently.
Secure favorable deal terms in writing before the landlord drafts the formal lease.
Achieve a fair and tenant-protective lease before execution.
Protect the tenant's financial position during the fit-out period.
Satisfy all conditions precedent to lease execution.
Create a binding lease on agreed terms.
Establish a clean baseline record of premises condition at lease commencement.
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