Whether you have an office, retail or industrial commercial lease, there is really only one good way to negotiate your lease renewal: Hire a good commercial real estate broker. If you don’t hire one and try and negotiate the renewal on your own, then you will be sorry as you will most likely miss out on your best deal.
One of the main reasons commercial tenants don’t hire a commercial broker to renew their lease is because the tenant thinks they will have to pay the broker directly. Although this might happen, I normally am able to get the landlord to pay me a commission for representing the tenant at renewal time. Why would a landlord pay me a commission when they have the tenant already leasing space at their project? Because I can find this tenant another location elsewhere. And the landlord also wants to entice me to bring them more deals to their project in the future.
What if the landlord won’t pay me, your broker, a renewal commission and the tenant doesn’t want to move to another project? Then I usually enter into a flat fee agreement with the tenant I represent. But my very reasonable fee pays for itself many times over. This is because I am able to negotiate things on behalf of my client that my client could not negotiate on his own. Landlords don’t give you, as the tenant, a credit for not using a broker and it is simply the wrong choice not to use one.
There is more to a successful lease renewal negotiation than just negotiating some of the numbers like rent. The lease itself is complicated and you need to understand what you are agreeing to and how each of the clauses in the lease might adversely affect you in the future. This is especially true in terms of hidden costs you aren’t aware of. So, having your broker review the lease and negotiate the clauses that are unfair or costly is huge reason not to do it yourself.
Think about it. You, Mr. Tenant, don’t know the commercial real estate market like your landlord does. So why, Mr. Tenant, do you think you will do your best if you negotiate against your landlord? You won’t until you hire the right broker. It’s always worth a try to hire a broker to see if the broker can do better than you can and better yet to see if the landlord will pay your broker so you don’t have to. Stop leaving money on the table and hire me now for your renewal or new commercial lease negotiation. I have negotiated over 1,000 leases successfully.
If you want to learn more about leasing, buying and/or selling any and all types of commercial spaces in California or if you have questions about any subject related to commercial real estate, please contact David Massie of DJM Commercial Real Estate at david@djmcre.com or 805-217-0791.