Are you familiar with the term “boilerplate?”
In the legal realm, that designation applies to some documents and agreements that can be repeatedly used in varied transactions with few – or even no – changes made to them. Any number of consumer contracts might reasonably come to mind. So too might select residential leases, which often contain terms and conditions that remain essentially the same for differing tenants.
A commercial lease, conversely, easily serves as a contrasting example of a legal contract that is anything but boilerplate. One in-depth online overview of such an agreement notes that it is generally far more complex than its residential counterpart “because the terms are negotiable and vary greatly from lease to lease.”
And there is this, too: A commercial lease is comparatively less protective of the parties negotiating it owing to a presumption that they command the requisite knowledge and experience to do so. Residential renters are not viewed similarly.
In a nutshell, carefully negotiating a commercial lease in a manner that promotes a business investor’s or other commercial entity’s best interests while adequately safeguarding against downsides can be a distinct challenge.
A seasoned real estate attorney with a demonstrated record of advocacy in commercial matters can materially assist in the process.
That is what the proven legal team at the Denver law firm of O’Brien Legal Services LLC does routinely, helping diverse business principals and investors in Colorado and nationally pursue commercial opportunities with knowledge and confidence.
A mainstay area of our practice is on the transactional assistance we provide in commercial landlord-tenant matters, including with the above-cited lease considerations.
We’ll take a closer look at specific Colorado commercial lease challenges and opportunities in our next blog post. We hope that readers will find the entry informative.