Over the last several days, I’ve learned a very valuable lesson with one of my clients. We found great office space for sublease that met every one of their needs at a discounted rental rate. Every company’s dream, right? Right. However, there was one thing that was overlooked, and I fear when dealing with subleases gets overlooked a great deal. What happens if the sub-landlord doesn’t move out or deliver the space in time for the sub-tenant to move in? Think that won’t happen, think that the sub-landlord obviously wants to get the sub-tenant into the space and paying rent as soon as possible, think again.
I am not an attorney so I am not going to even try to give legal advice. My goal here is to make you aware that when subleasing office space, make sure to set up penalties in the sublease document for the chance that the sub-landlord doesn’t deliver their office space on the agreed upon move-in date. There could be a whole host of reasons for why it happens. That isn’t important. What’s important is to make sure if it is does happen, there are pre-determined penalties in place. Don’t leave it up to chance and get it in writing.
In my case with my client, everything worked out and they moved into the office space on schedule. But, the idea of the sub-landlord not being out in time, with no penalties already in the sublease document, got me thinking about all the times other subleases documents have been signed with no clear understanding of the penalties. Save yourself the headaches and do it.
