Repair and Maintenance Provisions in Commercial Leases

When you review or sign a commercial lease, there is a lot of information to pay attention to. We tend to be drawn to rent, expenses, and anything else that comes out of our pocket on a regular basis, understandably.

But one thing that too many tenants may overlook, are duties to maintain and repair-things that can make a big dent in your bottom line, if you’re not careful.

Commercial and Residential Leases

Commercial leases aren’t like residential leases in that there are almost no rules, laws, or statutes that govern them, or which establish any rights for the landlord or tenant. That means that commercial leases are very individualized; each one may look very different, and have different terms—there is no “standard commercial lease.”

It goes without saying that before signing any lease, you should read it, particularly for the parts that address who will be responsible for repairing and maintaining the property. Of course, given commercial leases can be long and complex, “read the lease” is easier said than done sometimes.

Is it Maintenance or Repair?

The first thing to establish is the difference between maintenance, and repair. The lease may provide some guidance on what it defines as either one, but it may not.

That opens the door to problems—there are a whole host of problems that can arise in a commercial property, that could be defined as maintenance as well as repair. When a problem arises, the landlord and tenant will want the problem defined as whichever one that party does not have to pay for.

Time to Repair

Even if you do establish who pays for what, and what is maintenance and what is repair, then there is the issue of how long a landlord has to repair something, if it is in fact the landlord’s duty to do so under the lease.

Time means a lot here—if this is a business tenant, major unfixed problems can cost a business a lot of revenue. Tenants will want the obligation for the landlord to repair, to be as quickly as possible. Landlords however, who may have to deal with outside contractors, or who may be subject to the availability of workers or supplies to make repairs, may want language that gives them as much time as possible to make repairs.

What Happens if No Repair is Made?

If a landlord doesn’t fulfill its obligation to repair property, and you are a tenant, you again have to read your lease for guidance on how to proceed.

Many leases allow a tenant to fix the problem, and then ask the landlord for payment. Most will not allow a tenant to unilaterally just withhold rent. And almost every lease has a notice provision, whereby the tenant must inform the landlord of a problem, before the tenant resorts to litigation, or even, facing the problem by itself.

Have a commercial lease? We can help. Call the West Palm Beach business lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry E. Bray today for help with your commercial or business litigation or real estate problem.