How to Negotiate the Early Termination of a Commercial Lease

Get out of your commercial lease.

Circumstances often change when you are running your own business. Whether you are leasing a space that you have outgrown, or you are leasing a space that is too big for your needs or too costly for your budget, terminating your lease may be your only way out. However, since a commercial lease is a signed legal agreement, you'll need to negotiate its early termination if you wish to avoid legal complications.

Instructions

1. Explain your situation to the property owner. He may be willing to terminate the lease if he knows that someone else will pay him more rent.

2. Detail any of the problems you have had with the space you were renting. If the owner has not kept up on maintenance or anything else promised in the lease, you may have cause to get out of the lease. Since it may be difficult to prove your case, you should consider hiring a lawyer to deal with these types of negotiations.

3. Tell the owner that you are subletting your space. Finding someone else to rent the space may not be too difficult, but know that you will likely be responsible if they miss any payments.

4. Discuss a possible settlement to get out of the lease. You will lose money in the short-run in this scenario, but you may save money in the long run.

References

• USA Today: Need to get out of your lease?