Hi, Do you have some tips for lease negotiation with landlord? Thanks.
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Can't give you the specifics without more info, but some of the most important things to keep in mind from my experience include:
- You must know what you want and stick with it. This is the hardest thing for the most people. If you don't know what you want, then what are you negotiating for?
- You must learn and understand how restaurant lease industry works. Without this knowledge how would you know if a negotiation is successful?
- Get professional help (consultant, attorney, renter's broker, etc.) if you have no experience in retail/restaurant negotiation. You'll save a lot of money during the life of your lease.
Good luck.
I don't think you can learn to successfully negotiate a commercial lease and deal with landlords based on suggestions in any forum. Lease negotiation, or any negotiation for that matter, requires 1) experience in the specific industry, 2) knowledge about the specific detail of the deal and the landlord, 3) understanding of human psychology, and 4) knowing what you want and what your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) is.
Landlords know who's new to the lease negotiation and will always get the better end of the deal in such situation. By asking questions like this in a forum, it's clear you are new at this. Even if you receive some tips from this forum or elsewhere, you will never be prepared during a live, real-time negotiation. There are just too many moving parts in a negotiation, many of which only come out during the negotiation itself. You just can't tell the landlord to wait while you go search for additional tips to counter the points he just made.
It's better if you'd invest your time to learn negotiation properly and prepare yourself before getting into a negotiation, or just get someone (preferably a professional) to help you. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. These are my tips.
Lease negotiation, or any negotiation for that matter, is a learned skill. If you want to have a successful outcome, that is. Getting some tips on an online forum is not a good idea. At least give us some detail on your negotiation skill and experience level and definitely specific details about the deal.
This is a good point. each situation is different. If you want to be specific with your situation then you will get answer useful for your situation. Otherwise, there are plenty of generic "textbook" answers from a quick google search.
Not a restaurateur myself but have some knowledge about commercial real estate. I'd suggest you employ the services of a tenant's agent or broker. If you're not familiar with commercial or retail lease business then you need to learn as much as you can and protect yourself. Also be careful about just going with the landlord's broker; they are in no way working in your interest.
