Business owners will often assume all commercial leases to be standardized agreements, therefore signing without reading. The tenant can be signing off on an increase of rent or expenses without realizing that commercial leases are not necessarily standardized agreements.

Additional rent can be expected if the tenant wants control of common areas in a building. This is known as a triple net lease, where the tenant pays all building common area expenses. The rental price per square foot may be stated in the agreement to stay fixed for the term, however, the agreement may not mention the status of the building common area expenses.

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Takeaway:

• Parties to an agreement must ensure that they thoroughly read the agreement before possibly signing off on additional expenses they would otherwise have not agreed to.