A commercial lease is one of the longest-running and least-examined contracts a business will sign. Rent is the easiest number to compare and often the least important one; the terms buried around it determine what the space costs over ten years and how hard it will be to grow out of.
Know what you are allowed to do in the space
The permitted-use clause limits what the tenant may do on the premises, and a business that outgrows its use clause discovers it at the worst moment, financing, resale, or expansion. Assure the use language covers the business's real range of activity, not just its founding operation.
Assignment and subletting terms decide whether the space is an asset or a trap once the business outgrows it. A lease that forbids assignment without the landlord's consent and conditions consent on unreasonable terms can lock a growing business into the square footage it has left behind.
Compare total occupancy costs, not base rent
Additional rent, operating expenses, real estate taxes, and pass-throughs for services, can exceed the base rent within years of signing. Review what is included, how increases are calculated, and what is excluded, and compare the total figure against the market, not the base number.
Options to renew, expansion rights, and early termination rights each change the long-term economics. A modest concession in the fine print is often worth more than a rent abatement in the headline.
Take picture of the finish and repair obligations
Landlord and tenant repair obligations define who pays when the roof ages, the HVAC fails, or the build-out needs refreshing. Deliver the space back in the condition you found it is a clause that can convert a ten-year lease into a surprise capital project for the tenant.
Documenting the premises' condition at the start, and negotiating realistic surrender standards, prevents the final year of the lease from becoming a retrospective on construction quality.